


Journey of Atonement

by Novaz



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa 3: The End of 希望ヶ峰学園 | The End of Kibougamine Gakuen | End of Hope's Peak High School, Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Implied/Referenced Suicide, Past Sexual Abuse, Plot Centric, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-23
Updated: 2019-01-09
Packaged: 2019-01-22 01:45:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 28,810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12470720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Novaz/pseuds/Novaz
Summary: Following off of DR3 Hope arc's ending, life goes on. With the Remnants of Despair cured it's time for the world to heal too as they travel to undo their sins as best they can.





	1. The First Step

**Author's Note:**

> I do intend for this to be a multi chapter fic, however currently I cannot guarantee an update schedule so for now please enjoy this take on how everyone is able to forgive each other so easily after going through a killing game. Using first names for the characters because that's easier for me to write.

The further the boat sails away from the secret Future Foundation headquarters and the longer the party went on the more Ryouta has time to reflect on the new life he was embarking on. After so long he finally got to meet the people he could have gone to class with some years ago. The Imposter ever at his side had always given him whatever information he needed to know about what daily school life was like back then but for the first time the two of them could see everyone together. It really was something to celebrate. Still, Ryouta could hardly stomach more than one serving of the meal provided to them by the former Ultimate Cook. Even with the encouragement of his old friend to pack on the calorie intake just knowing what it cost to get them to this moment in time twists his insides.

But that was the point, wasn’t it? Everyone on this boat has their share of regrets, the things that they could never take back from their pasts, and yet here they are. Smiling faces and laughter ringing throughout the ship with the resolve to welcome each new day of their futures. The current peace could almost pass as carefree and Ryouta thinks even the nausea he feels deep in his gut could be passed off as sea sickness with a little bit of effort. It’s nice. It is nice to be here surrounded by people who care about him, it is nice that they understand him and welcome him on their new mission.

Ryouta breathes in.

And breathes out.

The sea air is nice, too. The pollution that the densely populated areas of the world suffer from can barely be detected in this open air.

The big and strong hand of the Imposter now resting on his back is also nice, Ryouta thinks. Focusing back on the here and now, Ryouta listens as the Imposter speaks, “…sure you are alright? I know you skinny people can be knocked over by a particularly strong breeze on any given day, but I must insist that you speak up if you need some rest.“

The way he talks sounds so identical to the haughty mannerisms of the original Byakuya Togami, yet the words themselves come off with more caring than Ryouta has ever heard from the man. It puts a smile on his face. Even if it means the Imposter’s work in mimicking that identity is imperfect, Ryouta is glad to be stuck with a Byakuya who can give a compliment without it sounding like an insult on a good day. He should tell his friend how grateful he is that the Imposter is who he is deep inside sometime soon, but for now Ryouta has to answer that question, "I’m-- I mean. I was just thinking. I might feel a little better once we get back on solid ground. Do you know how long we’re going to be out at sea?"

Answering a question with another question is cheating, but it’s true that Ryouta actually has no idea what they plan on doing next. Atonement, that is what they had said their current goal was, but what exactly did that mean? Ryouta clenches his hands over the railing. Having a party celebrating togetherness when the corpses of nearly all of the head members of the Future Foundation lay fresh seems almost dissonant.

"Hmph, is that all?” Byakuya Togami says with his arms crossed and looking down his nose at Ryouta. Of course he knows that isn’t all and the act drops its intensity as he continues speaking, “Answer me this, do you presume that we are operating as a group or a collection of individuals?"

Ryouta’s mind blanks, is there a significant distinction there? Or rather, why would that make any difference for how long they are going to stay on the ship? It’s not like anyone can just leave when all that surrounds them right now is the ocean meeting the distant horizon. Taking a step back from the railing to really look his friend in the face he can tell that this is really a serious question. It’s just hard to understand where he’s going with it. So Ryouta says, "You all welcomed me as part of the class and asked me to come with you, so that makes us a group. Right?”

“Correct,” replies Byakuya, his face emanating both smugness but also a sense of pride directed at Ryouta. “Then you should already be aware that what any organized group --no matter the size-- needs is a strong, capable leader. One whom can be relied on to manage such pedantry details of our plans.”

“So you mean I should ask Izuru Kamukura,” he says, because regardless of how little Ryouta actually knows about the guy he understands enough that there is no one on the planet more qualified for any position than that person. Even so, the memory haunts him of Izuru following Junko around like her shadow, seemingly ever present in those final days and just watching knowing full well what she was really like. Letting it all happen, bored. That is the Izuru that Ryouta knows, not the person the others call by the name Hajime. Even if he was the first one to extend his hand for Ryouta to join them, but wait, "Does that mean you don’t know?”

“I am Byakuya Togami,” is the only reply Ryouta gets as if that should obviously be the answer.

"Oh."

Still, he doesn’t move from his spot to seek out Izuru. He definitely isn’t avoiding talking to him, he just, he needs to build himself up to it. That’s all. Then he’ll walk right up to him and ask. Maybe the destination is so obvious it doesn’t need to be said, maybe they don’t even have a destination set. What direction is the boat even heading towards again? The setting sun casts everyone in twilight, but scanning the rest of the ship Ryouta can see that someone thought to bring out portable lamps so that the party doesn’t have to move indoors just yet. It is nice to see everyone getting along so well, the atmosphere is totally different from what a meeting in the Future Foundation could get like.

Byakuya must notice his hesitation because the man places his hands on Ryouta’s shoulders before speaking, “Social anxiety, is it? Fear not for I, the esteemed Byakuya Togami, have made a promise. I may have relinquished the leadership role to another, but having the good sense to delegate tasks to those entirely deserving of their titles in no way breaks the fact that I swore on my family’s name that I would protect us all. And it would not suit that promise if I did nothing to ensure that you integrate with the group as smoothly as possible.“

WIth his speech made the Imposter turns away, taking long strides towards the front of the ship, giving only a quick glance back to be sure that Ryouta follows.

He has to jog to catch up with his surprisingly quick footed friend, but once he has they walk side by side.

When they see Izuru he is in a group with Ibuki, Mahiru, Hiyoko, and Nekomaru who are all watching Akane stuff as much of dinner’s leftovers in her mouth as she possibly could. It already looks like her cheeks are stuffed with an impressive amount of meat to Ryouta’s estimate, but still he hears Ibuki cheering Akane on, "Yahoo! Ibuki knows you can do it, girl. Take it to the max!"

Hiyoko, acknowledging their arrival, mutters to Byakuya and Ryouta, "Hey, you two, wanna bet that Akane is tooootally going to pop any second now? There’s no way she’s going to be able to finish all this just by shoving it in her face hole like some dirty chipmunk.” 

“Amateurs,” Byakuya replies. He almost seems offended by this display, but he goes on, “To think you would start an eating contest without my presence. I have a technique to surpass all just for such an occasion as this you know."

Akane tries to say something but her mouth is just too full for any words to form.

"Please be careful that you don’t choke,” Mahiru says. The worry on her face melts to annoyance as she acknowledged Byakuya, “Geeze, could you not make this into a competition. There was just a little bit too much meat left after everyone else was done eating and Akane offered to clear it out so none of it went to waste.”

“Hehehe, yeah by shoving it all in at once to make a spectacle out of herself,” Hiyoko says with a sneer.

Nekomaru laughs along with her, but more genuinely, “A truly impressive feat! I would not have guessed it possible for a mouth to contain that much meat if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes!”

“Oh yeah, and I’m sooo sure that all this binge eating is going to do wonders for helping her recover from those eating disorders she had before our big reunion. I’m real impressed that someone could actually gain weight from being held in stasis inside a pod for a few weeks,” in a way the words out of Hiyoko’s mouth could be interpreted as concern but only if she could lose the biting attitude. Though Akane had been recovering some time before the simulation, if only so that her despaired self could experience the hope of gaining back a healthy weight only to lose it all over again.

“Hiyoko–” Izuru was finally going to speak up, but whatever he was going to say quickly gets drowned out by the loud chewing and swallowing noises Akane began to make just then. It was kind of disgusting to listen to.

With her mouth clear, Akane tries to say again what she wanted to say earlier, “Hey! If that’s a challenge, Byakuya, then you’re on! You better know that there’s no way I’d back down if you think you can beat me."

She punches her fists against each other and she almost seems to glow with a sudden burst of energy. It’s obvious to everyone that she’s taking a potential eating contest with the same level of seriousness she would take a call to battle. Opposed to her, Byakuya doesn’t even flinch at this display of strength. And of course he wouldn’t, Byakuya Togami exists as a pinnacle of confidence and excellence. He simply would not have made the challenge if he were not absolutely certain of his superiority. For now they settle things with a stare down.

"Aww, you totally swallowed it! Ibuki is sure that wasn’t even a world record or anything. Hey hey, Hajime, what is the world record for face stuffing anyway? Was she close?”

“I wasn’t taught that kind of useless trivia.”

"No fair! You like, totally know everything now don't you," Ibuki says while pumping her fists in the air. There is a pause where nothing happens and she sighs when she realizes that he's not going to answer that. Show's over, what a bummer.

However with that distraction out of the way there is nothing in the way of Ryouta asking what he came over here to know.

Byakuya opens the conversation, "Speaking of this supposed 'knowing everything' talent, Hajime, there is something I believe requires your attention."

"Oh? What's up?" the man's tone is more casually friendly than Ryouta would associate with such a bland face, but while the others are between loitering about or scattering across the ship again he knows they have his undivided attention now.

"Tell him, Ryouta," Byakyua suddenly says with his arms crossed once more. His smile betraying the amusement he feels more than the smugness he must have been going for, like sharing some sort of private joke.

"Huh?!" it startles Ryouta, mostly because he was expecting a little bit more support than that. He recovers quickly though, after all there's only so much beating around the bush and it is his question after all. He takes in a breath, making sure his back is straight just for the sake of holding his confidence, "I was just wondering if we had a plan to return to shore any time soon? We left headquarters pretty quickly, but I don't really know where our destination is now."

"That is a great question," is Izuru's reply. He places a hand on his chin as if he even needs time to think this through. "This is actually something I had wanted to discuss with everyone once things have settled down. We could start now if you want."

"Oh. W-well th-that is--" Ryouta stammers trying to say something that doesn't sound stupid to his own ears.

He doesn't get very far before Ibuki comes bouncing back into the conversation, "Whoa! So soon you are going to call for the swan song to our voyage into the vast depths of the void unknown?! Heh, it sounds cool to name it that, right? Well, if that's what Serious Business Hajime wants then leave it to Ibuki to gather everyone up!"  
"Thanks. We'll gather by the bow," Hajime says pointing towards the front end of the ship so there's no mistaking where he means, "since it'll start getting dark soon and we can set up a burn barrel over there."

Byakuya speaks up once more, "So rather than the convenience of arranging our meeting indoors where lighting wont be an issue you would have us group together under the stars? Very well, have it your way. However, Ryouta! It is of utmost importance that we make a detour before we attend. It would be a waste of our resources were we to not consider the possibility that those Future Foundation commoners stored some marshmallows we could roast."  
Honestly eating more is the last thing Ryouta has on his mind and it is more than doubtful that a Foundation attack ship would have something like marshmallows regardless of their availability in the world. But, Byakuya seems to want it so earnestly that he can't help but feel attracted to that energy like a moth to a flame. So without anything else to say to their leader they part ways with Izuru--Hajime for the time being and descend into the ship.

In the end there were no marshmallows to be found, but they both had fun searching the pantries. They knew they couldn't keep the others waiting so they didn't really have time to go through everything, but the unresolved mystery feels more like a promise that next time there really might be a treat waiting for them. 

Just a tiny fragment of hope for the future.

When they return to the deck most of their classmates have gathered around the fire that was indeed set up while they were busy. Izuru stands perfectly centered with the front of the ship, observing as Teruteru stokes the fire by poking a metal bar through gaps punctured in the barrel. Looking clockwise around, Kazuichi and Gundham stand at Sonia's sides listening to her tell a story about a custom from her homeland inspired by the circle they are forming around the fire. Also listening in to the story is Mahiru and by her side is Hiyoko, though the other girl seems more intent on looking out for the latecomers. She pouts a little when her eyes land on Ryouta and Byakuya as they take their place around the fire near her, but otherwise makes no comment as her eyes continue searching. After them there is a gap stretching out for the rest of the class, except for Akane, Peko, and Fuyuhiko completing the circle back around to Izuru.

Nagito is also here for the meeting, however instead of being with the others he stands close to the railings outside of any direct light source. When Ryouta's eyes meet his he only smiles and waves as if to say, "Don't worry about me." Well that makes one sort of missing classmate found, another three yet to arrive.

Before he can wonder where the others are for very long Fuyuhiko speaks up, "Yo, Akane, did Nekomaru get lost or something? Weren't you just with him?"

A huge grin forms across her face as she replies, "Aw, you know Coach, he's probably just--"

"It's shiiiiiiiiiiit!" booms the man in question's voice as he slams open the door from the interior of the ship. It's unlikely that he heard the conversation, but the declaration is well timed. Fuyuhiko mutters that he should have expected as much as Nekomaru finds his place next to Akane. "I apologize for being late, but as a man I am bound by my duty to take care of this body of mine. Have I missed anything?"

"I am not starting until everyone is here," Izuru says simply. Then, after a brief pause he continues, "Mikan and Ibuki are on their way, so it wont be long now."

Hiyoko having heard what she wanted to know suddenly focuses her attention back towards the group, "Ugh, it's about time. Some of us would like to go to bed early tonight so how about next time we need to have a meeting we should make everyone promise not to drag their asses making this longer than it needs to be."

She sends a glare towards her left, ensuring that Ryouta knows that Byakuya and himself as well as Nekomaru are included in her critical judgement.

To avoid her glare he instead asks Izuru, "How do you know they are coming?"

Izuru doesn't answer. Not that it would have mattered if he did, because the sound of two pairs of rushing footsteps follow up the question just as well.

Distantly he hears Mikan calling out, "I'm soooooorry."

Ibuki is just behind her, pushing Mikan forward even faster. Her laughter rings throughout the air, "Excuseness! That's short for, 'excuse us for our lateness!' Mikan slipped and made a totally huge mess downstairs, you should have seen it!"

"Uwaa, don't tell them that! I got all wet because you surprised me, it's soo embarassing," she whines back. Her knees almost buckle but Ibuki's hands on her back keep Mikan upright somehow.

Something about the girls'.... phrasing dries out Ryouta's mouth. He wants to trust them that there is nothing suggestive at all about what they are saying, but he remembers Mikan. Crawling towards him. Back then. He swallows but the dryness nearly chokes him. It's just an innocent conversation though, right? Mikan fell, on accident, and.... some water was probably involved? No one else is reacting like there is anything strange about what she said. Mikan is the clumsy one, that is what the Imposter had told him once while filling him in on the daily school life Ryouta had refused to be a part of.

The two girls take their place filling in the circle next to Ryouta. He pales. Izuru stares.

"But you make such cute faces when you wiggle on the ground like that, Mikan. All like 'eek' and 'ooooh, don't look there' with your face all red," Ibuki basically shouts in her enthusiasm, drawing the attention of everyone even if they had otherwise been in their own conversations.

"You didn't help at all!" Mikan cries out, tears forming in her eyes.

If Ryouta could melt himself into the protective folds of Byakuya's fat he would be there by now, but all he can manage is leaning against his friend. He feels torn between calling out the harassment such a scenario must have involved and not wanting to make a scene if his friends.... classmates are just. Like this. No, Mikan wouldn't be crying if she wasn't wronged here. He should speak up. Soon.

"Slander and lies! Ibuki cleaned up the supply closet with Mikan. Even got all that nasty old water back into the mop bucket while you changed," she almost seems offended while missing the point.

His voice cracks, the accusation on the tip of his tongue. His throat feels like its closing in on itself and he begins to wonder if he's even breathing. Mikan. Not even Mikan deserves to be objectified. It's not her fault. No one deserves to go through that no matter what they've done.

Ryouta nearly jumps out of his skin and gasps when Nagito appears in front of his vision, blocking out the sight of the girls and their bickering. His voice is low almost like a whisper and sweet, "Is there something wrong, Ryouta?"

Being pressed against Byakuya as he is, Ryouta can feel the rumble of his voice in his chest as he joins in too, "I agree, you've started acting a little strangely. Should you need to lie down there should be no issue for me to fill in for you, or postponing the meeting until tomorrow if that's what it takes."

He understands that they are trying to comfort him, but Ryouta becomes all to aware that the attention that had been focused on the girls has now shifted onto himself. He can't just call it off when he's the reason why everyone gathered in the first place, but Izuru had said that he wont start without everyone. Can he be excused without wasting everyone's time? No, no, he can't just run away from this.

He extends his arm to point past Nagito's shoulder at the girls, voice squeaking embarrassingly as he forces himself to declare, "S-s-sexual harassment!"

There is a pause then. The longer the silence stretches out the more Ryouta thinks he could just die on the spot. He can't be the only one who sees it that way, right? Right? Nagito shifts his gaze behind him to the girls, then back to Ryouta. Nagito says "I see," but in a too neutral tone that speaks more of him just going along with Ryouta rather than seeing the problem.

"Eh? Uh, sexual harassment?" Ibuki begins, clearly confused by the accusation, "Not that I doubt your judgement on this, but shouldn't Mikan be the one who--"

Suddenly Mikan screams out, silencing any discussion on the matter.

"T-this is all my fault isn't it?!" she rushes from her placement in the circle in a panic to stare Ryouta directly in the face. He stiffens where he stands. "You look so pale, Ryouta, a-and your trembling. You look so faint. I'm the one who made you this way, aren't I? You hate me don't you?!"

Her voice cascades the more worked up she gets as she speaks, her breasts heave with the effort she's putting into her body language. Ryouta has to close his eyes, he cannot bear to look at her right now as much as it pains him to admit that. Wasn't he just trying to protect her? Why did she have to be the one going on the offensive?

To Ryouta's gratitude, Byakuya moves inbetween the two of them. Byakuya then questions Mikan, "What is the meaning of this? For what reason would he have to hate you; did something happen between you two that we should know about? Explain!"

"It has to be my fault, right, Ryouta! Un-unless, was there someone else? You know w-we're all here for each other now, don't you? S-so if anyone did what I did to you, or worse," she nearly growls at the thought, "you have to let us know so we can d-do our very best to help you! It's not fair, for you to get hurt like this. I'll do anything you want me to so that you can feel better!"

"Whoa wait, does that mean what I think it means?" Kazuichi from the peanut gallery interjects.

"Ryouta, did you perhaps have.... an altercation with Mikan in the past?" Sonia adds on from Kazuichi's interruption, trying to put it as politely as she can manage.

"It might be better if you could settle down a little, Mikan," Nagito says as he places his hands on her shoulders and nudges her back a step. Another physical barrier between her and Ryouta to back up Byakuya's towering form.

Somehow asking where they plan to move forward to has sunk Ryouta back into the depths of the past. Sinking sinking, deeper deeper.

"Ryouta, if this is something too much for you to go into details about we will understand. But it seems there is something we will have to explain to you," Byakuya is as gentle as he can be, a beacon in the darkness pulling Ryouta away from that abyss of despair. "First of all, I apologize that none of us thought you might need to hear of the promise we've made to each other. Are you following?"

Any topic change might as well be a lifesaver, so Ryouta nods, "A promise?"

"Before we get into that, how much do you know about what happened to us in the Neo World Program?" Izuru finally speaks up, which quiets Mikan's caterwauling and the others speculations.

"The Neo World Program? Even though I was a Future Foundation branch head invited to Makoto Naegi's trial the only details I was really aware of was that he used that program to shelter you all. For you all to come out of the program no longer acting in the name of despair, I assume that it worked?" Of course Ryouta's own branch had almost nothing to do about dealing with Remnant of Despair activity so he was one of the last ones to even know about Makoto's treasonous actions. If he had the chance to see for himself he must have buried himself in his work too much to even notice. And yet, the feelings of jealousy flare up again just thinking about how truly lucky Makoto is that his efforts were so rewarding and he came out of the final killing game practically unscathed compared to the loss the Foundation took in just this one day. Their goals were the same, yet where Ryouta's hands created the very tool used to initiate the end of the world, Makoto may have very well saved it if the former Remnants can undo the evils they once plagued the world with.

"Not exactly," Izuru gives a pause to allow Ryouta a 'huh' reaction before going on. "Perhaps Makoto and his closest friends are the only ones who would know what truly happened to us in there, but the reality is that before we were able to leave Jaberwock Island we experienced our very own mutual killing game within the program that was meant to rehabilitate us."

"A killing game? B-but you're all-- I mean, how can you--" Ryouta can hardly finish his questions. He never would have guessed that the others would have experienced something as brutal as mutual killing, for one the program was never designed to facilitate something so violent as far as he knew and even more importantly for everyone to be alive.... and just at dinner they were all smiling at each other like nothing could tear them apart. How is it possible for them to hold such a strong bond if they were literally killing each other not too long ago?

"Of course the killings took place within the simulation. Once I awoke in the real world I was able to revive the ones who had fallen comatose resulting from the trauma of experiencing death within the game world," he shifts from his bland but informative tone to a smirk here. "We were even able to keep all of our memories created within the game world and outside of it, something that was not possible in the original model of the program which was designed to overwrite our memories."

Ryouta looks up to stare into Byakuya's eyes, a silent plea for confirmation that all that really happened. He is met with complete seriousness, so it really happened then. It happened, but, "How is that possible? For a mutual killing to occur, and despite that you all are so welcoming of each other? I don't understand."

"This is where the promise I mentioned comes in. You see what we have done to each other would be considered unforgivable by normal standards, however, we are not normal people. Even amongst those who were merely innocent victims in the program, the scope of inexcusably evil acts preformed by each of us in reality is innumerable. So in the interest of forging a new path for ourselves we promised each other one thing: a second chance, for all of us."

"We do not ask that you simply forgive what has been done to you. Second chances do not necessitate letting go of the past as it is not your responsibility to prove that the wrong that has been done to you will not happen again. All you must do is keep an open mind and exercise good judgement. And if there is any problem at all with this arrangement, that you still feel unsafe by any means, you should know that we've also promised to look out for each other and that includes holding each other responsible for what we do from now on."

What Byakuya and Izuru explained made sense, and Ryouta realizes that he too must have benefitted from this arrangement by how easily they had accepted him into their group, the one who gave Junko Enoshima the power to turn them into monsters. Izuru already said that what they seek now is atonement, not forgiveness. This is the future they have chosen, and the future Ryouta had abandoned his career to follow along with.

He looks at Mikan, how she now sobs into Nagito's shoulder as he holds her close to him with his mechanical hand. Ryouta can't see Nagito's face and her words are too muffled to be understood, but the sight reaches him deep inside. Everyone has shown that they are willing to open their hearts to him when they could have easily condemned him as a traitor to the class, the one at fault that none of them can live prosperous lives in an unbroken world. If only he could have done something different back then to stand up to Junko, but he had thought he was protecting them when that was a false hope she had manipulated. The past cannot be changed, no matter how much one regrets the things that have been done. However...

The future can change everything. If given the chance.

"So then, you all--!" there really isn't anything Ryouta feels can end that sentence that can convey all of the uplifting emotions he wants to express towards his classmates.

Suddenly Fuyuhiko speaks up, as if unloading a burden, "With this second chance we have a unique opportunity to fix some of our worst mistakes. After-- after what I did in the program I had a lot of time to think. I felt so ashamed of myself that I let Monokuma play me like that. How easy it was. I never wanted to go through that kind of experience ever again, so I resolved myself to becoming a better man. Now I can finally say the things I should have said to begin with instead of being so far up my own ass that I lose sight of what's really important."

"Young master!" Peko gasps. It takes her a visible amount of effort to continue, "I..... still feel that the blame for that lays on me, for overstepping my place as your tool. I understand now that you do not see me that way, however that is something that I.... will need some time to become accustomed to. I do not know if I can let go of my purpose, but I will do my best to become the kind of person that you-- that I, um, can be? Excuse me, this is awkward."

"I swear I'll help you understand your own worth, Peko, no matter how long it takes," the permament blush on Fuyuhiko's face seems to deepen its pink hue just a little as he makes his declaration. No one comments on how much more cute it makes him appear. The look of determination in his eye is all that needs to be seen to understand his resolve.

"Geeze, I'm just relieved that my death was quicker than I could realize what was happening," Mahiru starts. "I don't know how I would feel if I had to suffer and then wake up to find out that what I was killed for had been something we'd already worked out between us while we were in school. Just, Fuyuhiko, I'm going to have my eyes on you to make sure you live up to that 'better man' talk! No excuses!"

"I appreciate that. Really."

Nekomaru's voice booms out, "Oooh, are we sharing stories now!? I just want to say that I hold no ill will towards Gundham. I was living off borrowed time anyway, and in that moment we'd made a pact! I obviously wasn't around to know if you all really understood what it meant to us, but dying a warriors death for everyone's sake sure as hell beat waiting for all of us to just die."

"Indeed, I had already explained myself sufficiently while judgement was cast upon me. However," with a smirk Gundham steps towards the fire barrel. His actions then mimicked by Nekomaru who was positioned directly across from him. The fire may be a barrier between them but as they stare at each other their bond unmistakably transcends such a simple obstacle. "it is with no small offering of gratitude that I feel seeing you stand before me once more."

"It was an honor to duel you!" and what Nekomaru says is then followed by the windup of his right arm. Gundham senses his intentions and moves his feet into a stronger stance while balling his hands into fists. As Nekomaru swings his own fist forward Gundham meets him halfway, securing the brofist with all the intensity it deserves. Fire licks towards their outreached hands and embers jostle free from the force of impact, but neither man seem to care.

For these two it seems the hardships they faced together only served to strengthen their camaraderie.

Nodding, they withdraw their hands and return to their previous placements.

"Ibuki will go next! Yahoo!" Despite waving her arms in the air in excitement Ibuki quickly switches to crossing her arms in a more contemplative manner to actually explain her feelings, "Hmm mmmm, you know, since Ibuki was sick at the time Ibuki was like totally reliant on Mikan's care. To depend on someone like that and have that trust betrayed would super duper suck, but when Ibuki woke up Hajime explained how Mikan got sick too. So Mikan was just as helpless to stop herself as Ibuki was in not taking suggestions waaaaaay too seriously. In that case, what really sucked was the motive Monokuma forced on us!"

Up until this point Ryouta had been following along as best he could with the explanations the classmates were providing, but at the mention of a sickness and people acting strangely from it he looked towards Byakuya for verification. It didn't make a lot of sense out of context, but Byakuya only whispered back that he would "explain later" before refocusing his attention right back on the current conversation.

Contrasted to Ibuki's pump and vigor, Hiyoko is bitter when she says, "This is so pathetic, you know? What I want to say is that I want to break that pig slut's bones, twisting them into a goregous decorative arrangement while I peel her skin off little by little. That murderers shouldn't be just forgiven on the spot like nothing happened and the least she could do for slicing my neck open is to bow down before me and beg for her worthless life. But....."

Her words are so cruel and so at odds with the established atmosphere of everyone getting along that it's honestly shocking to Ryouta. Scanning around the circle what he sees though is that he's the only one flinching, just like when Mikan was describing how she fell earlier it seems as though everyone is used to this kind of behavior. He feels guilt welling up inside for feeling afraid by her words. Despite not wanting to hear any more he forces himself to continue listening.

"B-but, then I woke up. And I'm just as much worthless murderous scum as she is. I'm still pissed as hell! But we're all in this together, so.... I'm trying. Because if I can forgive Mikan, I can prove to myself that I can forgive myself too," Hiyoko looks as if she's about to cry as she finishes speaking.

If Ibuki's words sent tremors through Mikan's body while she continued to cling onto Nagito, it's Hiyoko's words that spur Mikan to break away from his hold with a rough shove so she can scoop the two girls into a tight hug with a fresh wave of tears. One victim leaning into the embrace, the other not exactly pushing Mikan away but certainly making disgusted faces and weakly spoken rude comments. All Mikan can force out is a repeating loop of, "Uwaaah, I'm so s-sorry. This is so unfair. Please forgive me. It's not fair. Forgive me, I'm sorry."

"Ugh, you know I'd be choking on your smelly pits if I were still short? I can't believe I have to get used to being tall again...." Hiyoko complains before burying her face in Mikan's shoulder, accepting the hug for what it is.

A silence follows from the group as the girls hold onto each other just a little bit longer. Not like the current topic is over, but rather everyone seems to be waiting for the next person to speak up.

Perhaps because this pause follows so closely after Hiyoko's harsh words that Ryouta begins to really understand that everyone's cooperation isn't due to any special bond that magically makes all the bad that happened between them disappear. The smiles and fellowship they had shown him both in the broadcast tower and at dinner are something they do purposely. 

Like everything is going to be okay, but not because it's easy. Rather, everything is okay because that is what they will make of it with the decisions they make every single day from now on. Unlike anime where relationships can just click together to suit the narrative, real relationships take dedication and effort to maintain.

No more anime, no more video game worlds, no more excuses.

Byakuya breaks the silence, "Look, I do forgive you, you know."

"Eh, even you died?!" the revelation pulls Ryouta back from his thoughts. He didn't even want to think that anything had happened to his friend during the killing game.

"I was the first."

"It was an accident! Th-the worst mistake of my life!" Teruteru cries out. "I wasn't my intention to murder Byakuya, but if I had gotten away with it then everyone would have...... truly mama would have been disappointed in me even if I could have gone back home to her."

"Byakuya proved himself to be a truly remarkable leader at that time," Nagito compliments. "Certainly I had underestimated his ability, it's just unfortunate how he paid the price for that competence."

The praise seems to anger Teruteru as he continues shouting, "You! Don't you think you should sound more ashamed of yourself, none of that night would have even happened if it weren't for you!"

"Huh? But you're the one who made the decision to kill someone, Teruteru. It's not like I forced you to do anything, I merely presented you with an opportunity," Nagito replies. With his wide eye stare it seems that feeling guilt hadn't even crossed his mind.

"How crazy do you have to be to not see that's just as bad, you devil!"

"Enough," Byakuya rebukes. He briefly clasps a hand over Nagito's shoulder, perhaps because he just happened to be standing the closest, or as a gesture of things left unsaid here. He then turns to speak to Ryouta on his other side, "Clearly not everything can be worked out with just a few short words, Ryouta, but that's why it's important that we look towards the future now. And for that reason we must all learn to work together."

For the time being the two other men seem silenced. Though Teruteru is no less flustered than he had been since he spoke up. As for Nagito he seems just as calm as ever, however now that Ryouta knows he was involved in the murder of his best friend that disarming smile now seems to carry an edge to it. He never would have guessed. Byakuya retracts his hands.

It is best to look towards the future though, right? So the conversation should probably move forward if there's nothing that can be said that would change anything here. That is what Ryouta thinks as he says, "Um, so, was that everyone? Already so many of you have spoken up, the amount of survivors at the end must have been comparable to Makoto's group."

"We were down one less," Izuru states.

Everyone goes quiet again. Enough time for Ryouta to do the math and understand that means... that means... In a killing game alike to the School Life Killing for there to be a victim and then the murderer killed as well once found out and... and...

The math doesn't add up. Or does it?

"I have made the magnanimous decision to give Kazuichi a second chance!" Sonia swings her arm forward as if making a proclamation.

"Aaaaugh! Miss Sonia!" Kazuichi clearly not expecting to hear that screams out. "Wh-why would--? No. No, I know why. You must have hated me for the way I acted in the simulation. I totally admit that my behavior was unacceptable there and I'm so sorry. B-but this is about murderers and victims, you know? I was a massive creep, but it's not like I murdered you! Please don't put me on the same level as that!"

"Ah, you are right. I perhaps may have wanted you dead, but that does not quite fit into the current topic of conversation. I ask all of you to excuse me for speaking out of turn as such," Sonia finishes speaking by covering her mouth with a single hand as emphasis for her keeping her mouth shut on the matter.

Kazuichi tugs his hat down while biting back tears as Sonia bows her way out of the conversation. The problem remains then that there is someone who still needs to speak up. However as Ryouta catches quick glances here and there the only conclusion he can come to is that they are waiting for...... Nagito. Again? Yet, what surprises Ryouta the most is how by all appearances all this is going over Nagito's head, as though having to explain himself any further than the short comment he made towards Byakuya is something that just hasn't occurred to him.

Fuyuhiko is a bit grumpy as he nudges the conversation forward, "So are we just going to stand around here all fucking night or is a certain someone going to give us some reassurance that everything's cool?"

Ryouta finds himself openly staring at Nagito now, but the next voice he hears actually comes from across the ring. Izuru says, "I am the one who inserted the Junko AI chips into the Neo World Program. All deaths from the killing game are my responsibility for creating that possibility."

"Hey Hajime, you know there's no need to go apologizing for that! You've done so much for us and it's not like we went into that program totally blind to that old plan," Akane says with a wide grin.

"Indeed, if it were not for Hajime more than half of our number would still be comatose. Or worse," Sonia says firmly, but her eyes soften as she glances towards Gundham at her side.

"Even then, 'or worse' was the original plan" Kazuichi grumbles. "Man, I can't believe as Remnants of Despair we were that idiotic. Who the hell would agree to sacrifice their bodies to revive some bitch?"

"And even in the program, Hajime saved our asses a bunch of times during the trials. Really, man, we owe you our lives. So don't go around saying crap like 'I shouldn't have done that' when it's the best thing that's happened for us in... hell, it's been years," Fuyuhiko insists.

"Thank you, you guys. I appreciate your faith in me," Izuru says with sincerity clear in his voice. A sharp contrast to what he used to be at the start of The Tragedy. "But even so, what I did risked everyone's lives and that is worth acknowledging. Can you really trust that your lives are safe with me? That I'll never get bored of your existence?"

"However, the Hajime who did that to us and the Hajime before us now are not precisely the same," Sonia cautiously broaches the topic. "The time we spent together on that island gave us many meaningful memories which serve to both shape who we are now and how we are able to see each other. I believe in the Hajime that I have spent that precious time with!"

"But you know I'm not just that Hajime you met on the island. I can't be."

"That is right, I suppose you are not," Sonia says turning her gaze away.

Izuru sighs, "Which isn't to say that person has been completely erased. I am still Hajime Hinata, and I will continue to identify myself that way. The distinction to make here is that I'm also still every bit the person who has toyed with your lives in the past. I am Izuru Kamukura. That is what makes it important for me to work towards showing you all that I wont just discard everyone again."

No one has an argument to follow up that logic.

Except Nagito, "Is that really important? Had it not been for the risks taken we would not be able to stand here and speak of a hopeful future. Hajime, whether you truly do care or if you are just using us as mere entertainment, right now would you deny that our hearts are united against despair?"

"So is that what you believe," Izuru doesn't question but rather states outright, "that it should not matter what we've done in the past as long as we can say that the outcome was what one would call hopeful."

There is an undercurrent of mania to the way Nagito laughs before he says,"Of course! It's only natural that the bigger the despair the greater the hope that follows becomes. I've said as much before, have I not? We've all done completely unforgivable things that makes us undeserving of life. However, that is our stepping stone towards hope! Once we've moved beyond--"

Before Nagito could explain his mindset further, Kazuichi cuts in, "Like hell it doesn't matter! There would be no point in us forgiving each other or atoning for anything if we just 'stepped over' our past or whatever you are babbling about!"

Nagito raises his hands disarmingly, "Really now, I'm just looking towards our future. That's what we are all doing here. The probability that something horrible will happen so soon after all that we've been through and all that we've gained.... well. Don't you think that would just be too much?"

"How can we look towards the future if we can't get over what you've done! You don't even have the excuse of being under her influence for the kind of crap you pulled in the program," Kazuichi points accusingly at Nagito. "I haven't really thought about it since we were so busy getting everyone up and that thing with the Future Foundation, but hearing you talk like that is starting to piss me off!"

A quiet murmur of what is more or less agreement follows Kazuichi's statement from some others in the group.

"Ah. Please, I do not mean to cause any unrest like this. What...." Nagito pauses, "What can I do to make you feel better?"

"Man, you even have to ask?" Kazuichi mutters to himself.

"Nagito," Izuru picks up the conversation, "you say that for what we have done we do not deserve life. What reassurance can you give that you aren't going to throw away this chance we have to live, taking in consideration what you attempted to do in the game world?"

Awaiting a response, for Ryouta the world seemed to freeze for a moment. He doesn't really understand what they are referring to since he hadn't witnessed it, but the weight of the question holds him in place. However, while Ryouta was willing to let the scenario play out, Hiyoko becomes the voice of this confusion when she says, "Hold up! Not everyone here knows what you are talking about. Like, he did try to get us all killed right away, but last I remember no one cared about that enough to keep him locked up anymore. As long as he stayed the hell out of the way, of course. Sooo, don't tell me you guys really let this creep get away with pulling another murder scheme!"

"Hiyoko, please..." Sonia's voice wavers ever so slightly. Her hands clasp together as she presses them against her chest. "Now is not the time to explain what precisely happened. I.... I do not wish to recall that scene nor the outcome of the trial."

"Wow so someone did die because of all of your negligence!"

The way Hiyoko sounded as if she were speaking down to Sonia sets Kazuichi off, "Hey hey! Miss Sonia said to let it drop, so let it go! What do you need details for anyway? Nagito is fucked up and tried getting us all killed, again. That's all you need to know!"

"But," Mahiru joins in soft but soon plants her hands on her hips, "if we don't have the full picture of what happened then what Nagito has to say isn't going to mean as much to the rest of us, you know? If you are going to go around demanding answers, have the consideration to think about those of us who have no idea what you are talking about!"

There's a building energy in the air, the kind Ryouta is familiar with from attending meetings with the other leaders in the Future Foundation. He sighs. This is where arguments just keep piling on top of each other and everyone loses the ability to cooperate long enough to come to a final decision that could help the world. It's disappointing to see the stability the class tried to project for him falling apart before his eyes, but should he have expected any better?

Do they even remember the real reason why this meeting is happening?

"Okay everyone needs to just shut up and listen. First of all, Sonia is right that now isn't the time to relive that shit. We're trying to move the fuck on here, but" Fuyuhiko sweeps his arm from pointing towards Sonia over to Mahiru, "I get where you are coming from too. And you are right, we should have everyone on the same page here so I'll just go ahead and say the part that actually matters."

For just having one eye Fuyuhiko surely has a powerful stare as he lets Kazuichi know exactly how unimpressed he is with what the other had to say about the event in question. Sonia opens her mouth as if to protest but thinks against it, hesitant. One of Gundam's hamsters pokes out from his scarf to make a leap from his shoulder to hers, and the man stands proud as his fluffy companion soothes her worries away with adorable little headbutts and squeaks. The combination of Fuyuhiko's glare and Sonia calming down results in Kazuichi backing down from arguing more though he still grits his teeth.

Hiyoko looks like she's eaten a sour grape, but with Mahiru's nod towards Fuyuhiko to continue Hiyoko merely crosses her arms and pouts.

Oh. To Ryouta's shock it seems there is still hope for this group yet. 

It's such a relief compared to being in the Future Foundation.

"Okay, so there's a lot that I'm going to gloss over here but in summary: Nagito found out about us being Despair ahead of everyone else. So he killed himself. Except he did it in such a convoluted way that he was going to take down the rest of us Despairs with him if we hadn't figured out the trap. What he did was just some suicidal vigilante bullshit, any questions?" Fuyuhiko doesn't wait for a response before closing the topic with a forceful, "No? Good."

Mikan squeaks evidently having been silenced from whatever she was about to say. Gundam too seems to have something to say, but his eyes lock on to Nekomaru who shakes his head and that's the end of that.

Akane furrows her brows, "Hmm, you know actually being reminded of that, doesn't this mean we're not just dealing with Nagito recklessly putting our lives at risk? Monokuma didn't count it as a suicide but he still got himself killed by his own plan, ain't that the same thing?" 

Beside her, Nekomaru scratches his chin, "Seems that way. So it was a suicide, huh..."

Chatter starts up again as the formerly dead members of the class process this information. Izuru allows it to continue for a few minutes, however his words cut through the white noise in an instant, "Well, Nagito, your friends are concerned not only for themselves but your own well-being now too. My question remains the same."

"Oh, so it's my turn to speak now? You know I wouldn't go as far as to say everyone here is my friend, after all it is my fault that everyone nearly died twice! I feel unqualified to be considered anyone's friend with that sort of history between us."

"Just answer the question."

Once more there is a pause as Nagito collects his thoughts. He stares at his robotic hand, flexing the fingers just enough for a quiet whirring noise to sound out from its mechanisms. Izuru is still as a stone, yet this manages to communicate to everyone that this time no one is to interrupt in a way similar to how Sonia's commanding presence naturally exudes obedience in those caught in her aura. It's almost terrifying how strong his aura is. Finally, Nagito takes a deep breath to speak.

"For those of you who battled against the image of Ultimate Despair Junko Enoshima herself, this is the hopeful future you have chosen. How could I not be moved to know you five had come up against the abyss of despair with your final decision, and then together you were able to create a future for everyone. Even amongst those who had died your perseverance and shining hope saved us. You-- Ahaha! You even went as far as to awaken someone as troublesome and worthless as me. And greeted me with a smile! It is as Kazuichi said, after all I've done how could you possibly forgive me? Had I gotten my way the only future awaiting us and the world would have been more despair. I couldn't do a single thing right, and yet you all allow me to stand amongst you still."

Flesh hand grips metallic hand close to his chest as Nagito finishes, "You have given me a gift by my being here like this. It would be unforgivably rude of me to just throw all that hard work away."

It's touching, Ryouta thinks. Despite the things Nagito had done that make it hard for Ryouta to peg exactly how he wants to feel about the man, he can at least feel some comradery from those words. 

But just as the thought crosses his mind Byakuya speaks, "Hmph, so your will to live extends as far as your gratitude towards the survivors then? How dependable do you expect us to trust those feelings to remain the same?"

"Oh? For my motivations to be doubted like this....." Nagito turn his head away from Byakuya's scrutiny. He loosens the grip on his hand only to cross his arms. "I wouldn't say you are wrong to think that way. I'm sorry I don't really have a better answer than that at this time, but I really do feel grateful."

Izuru sighs, "There, is everyone satisfied now? If no one else has any comments to add I'm going to get to the point of why I've asked everyone to gather tonight."

Suddenly Akane jumps to attention. "Whoa, hey before we get on with it. Um, coach, I've got something I gotta say to you."

While Akane and Nekomaru begin to discuss..... something to do with Akane feeling at fault for Nekomaru's death. A fight with Monokuma? No matter what it is Ryouta cannot focus on that conversation because Byakuya has leaned down to speak quietly in his ear, "Have you understood the promise this class has made to each other?"

Nekomaru's voice is booming while declaring his duty as a coach.

"Oh yes, I got it a while ago. Thank you for helping me understand. I..." Ryouta chokes up. He looks at Mikan who still clings to her girl friends. He'll have to talk to her. He swallows. But he doesn't have to talk to her right now. "I envy everyone here. You all have the strength to speak up about your grievances with each other, but I don't think I can do that yet. Is that okay?"

Akane is shouting back. Insisting on taking responsibility for her own actions. She jumps in the air to deliver a kick, but Nekomaru blocks it easily. Their dicussion continues with their fists flying, but Ryouta still doesn't pay much attention to this rowdy bunch.

Byakuya smiles, "Do try to not forget that we are operating as a group now. While a strong leadership will keep us going, the matter of personal wellbeing on an idividual level is still vitally imprtant to our overall success. More than simply 'okay' I might even suggest that taking time for yourself is what's expected of you as you adjust to your new circumstances."

"Thank you--" is all Ryouta can say before two loud thuds manages to break through his focus on his own conversation. He turns back to look at Nekomaru and Akane who are both on the ground now. Where the two of them had just been standing there is now Izuru.

It must have been an impressive sight when Izuru knocked the other two to the ground judging by the look of shock of Kazuichi's face and Sonia clapping with Nagito.

"Heyyyyy," Akane recovers first by sitting up and rubbing her head. She then jumps to her feet. "Hajime if you want a fight, you're on!"

Nekomaru's laughter bellows even as he stays on the ground a little longer before picking himself up as well. He says, "Good one, Hajime!" as he does so.

"I will look forward to it," Izuru replies to Akane as he walks away from her back to the position he had been standing in. "But right now what we all need to be thinking about is where we want to go next. There are several destinations I have in mind, however, I'm ultimately leaving it up to the rest of you to narrow that decision down."

"Aye aye, Captain!" Ibuki shouts and makes a salute.

"First thing: do we want to go back to Jabberwock? Our impact on the world will be limited, but the isolation and our familiarity with the land makes it ideal for relaxation."

Gundham laughs while flourishing has scarf dramatically, "Fuhahaha! A land claimed under the dominion of our mortal enemy known as 'Future Foundation' is simply no match for our evil prowess should we deign to take sovereignty ourselves."

Sonia frowns at that, gripping a hand across to her arm. "While I have full confidence that we could secure Jabberwock for our own purposes what I am not certain of is if this is the right time to make that move. We did just send a message to the entire organization claiming responsibility for destabilizing their leadership. Should they discover we have moved back there we may never see the end to their retaliation; that does not sound like a proper hella sweet relaxing vacation!"

"Yeah! I'm with Sonia," Kazuichi replies, pumping his fists all fired up. "Why the hell would we head back to that island anyway when we finally got off of it? Let's go save the world or some shit already!"

"Aren't we just gonna get attacked no matter where they find us?" Akane starts thinking out loud. "Aw, but you know if we're on that island Hajime will probably spot any threat a mile away before I even get a chance to clobber 'em, so I'm all for us just moving on too!"

"So does anyone feel like we should prioritize Jabberwock?" Izuru glances around the circle. Though Gundham had been excited for the possibility he tucks his face in his scarf, conceding to Sonia's point that now may not be the best time to pursue that aspiration.

Fuyuhiko huffs, "Jabberwock is fine and all but if we aren't going there we're going to need some kind of base of operations. Hell, come to think of it Jabberwock might not even cut it since we don't exactly have a way to send outgoing signals there do we? What we need now is a way to keep in touch with the world as well as each other in case there is ever a reason for us to scatter apart. We need to be better prepared."

"So we currently lack necessary technology and discounting this stolen boat we are without a base we can return to safely," Izuru states dryly like he's reading off from a checklist.

"Well, yeah--" Fuyuhiko tries to agree but Hiyoko interrupts to say, "So then why don't we stay in the capitol? Didn't the Kuzuryuu clan take over the government of Japan, we should have looooads of security there."

"We cannot go back there," Peko says sharply. Her red eyes glare at Hiyoko until she seems to realize her response was too intense so she quietly adds, "....yet. You wouldn't know, however those people we left back there were set to react with hostility towards everyone without the control helmets except the youn-- except for Fuy-- Master Fuyuhiko and myself. Even as fellow members of Ultimate Despair the rest of you were not welcome."

Sweat forms on Peko's brow as she makes an attempt to break away from her usual address for Fuyuhiko. She squeezes her eyes shut and takes a slow, deep breath calming herself down.

Mikan flinches and holds her hands over her head as though expecting to be hit for speaking as she says, "Why... why even us? Do you haaaaate us."

Ibuki shouts energetically, "So just shut 'em down! What gives?"

"Look it's not that simple," Fuyuhiko tries to be gentle but defensiveness can still be heard in his voice. "We did a lot of stupid shit as Despairs and making the situation more complicated and self sabotaging than it needs to be was part of that."

"For similar reasons I ask for you all to not consider Novoselic to be a safe haven for us. Once I set food on my home country's soil I shall resume my position as Queen and without a plan of action beforehand it will be most difficult for us to maneuver however we wish."

Following off of Fuyuhiko and Sonia's remarks Izuru adds, "If we were to just deactive the helmets without a strategy for what happens to those people afterwards we are just going to create more chaos. Accustomed to violence and suddenly without purpose, the confused mobs are likely to begin a mass riot."

Chatter starts up again. Teruteru thinks it would be better to just let those people go on account of how they'll continue to spread despair for as long as the message is broadcasted to their brains. Once they are no longer fueled by Despair it is the Future Foundations problem then, right? Mahiru scolds him on how typical it is to just assume it would be okay to leave a mess of the world and expect someone else to clean it up. Nagito points out that they are likely to leave the Monomen and women in the hands of Future Foundation regardless due to their choice to uphold their reputation as Remnants of Despair. This is very much not what Mahiru wanted to hear, but before she can give him an earful Hiyoko jokes that they can just get Ibuki to play her songs to calm the masses. Ibuki is pleased but insists her music is more suited for encouraging riots than dispersing them.

More solutions are brought up and countered all the same. How could they resolve this issue?

"There is a way we can handle the mono helmets on a small scale to begin with and then build a plan based off of the results," again Izuru sounds like he's merely reading off of something as mundane as a shopping list rather than deciding the fate of the world.

Nagito smirks, "Why Hajime, had it not been for you stating you were allowing us to narrow down the possible locations I would suspect you were leading us to pick one location in particular. That last point sounds oddly specific don't you think?"

Ryouta blinks, "Is there some place we can go where we can set up a base, keep in touch, and have a testing ground to disable the mono helmets without causing another despair outbreak in the process?"

Izuru holds his hands out in a 'you got me' gesture and smiles as he drops his hands back down. Ryouta can't be sure that he never did have alternative ideas in mind, but the way the man looks this is certainly the route he expected the conversation to head down. A shiver runs down Ryouta's spine seeing him like this.

Finally Izuru explains his idea, "Up until just recently there was a city that Despair had allowed to remain untainted, and fortunately for us it was a bastion of technological advancement. What we need in communications or surveillance can be found in relatively good shape despite the conflict thriving there now. The Future Foundation has already taken notice of the city's self contained incident, but it does not know the most important secret the city holds. We can use that to both establish ourselves undetected and leave the fallout of our aid in their hands without giving the Foundation a heavier burden than they were already prepared to deal with."

"So we're going to...."

"Towa City."


	2. Opportunity Knocks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So it's been a few months since I posted the first part, but I finally made it to the end of this chapter. I'll probably have the POV switching a lot depending on which perspective I think is best, so here's a Hajime chapter.

Towa city.

What once was a beautiful city full of potential and opportunities is now broken down to shambles. Signs of recent battles bathe the city in the stench of the rotting dead, gunpowder, and smoke. On top of that recent rain adds a bitter cold to the late season air. Navigating the streets has become a maze of hazards between the roads being gouged from explosions or blocked up with debris. Rarely does one see a resident on the streets, and never is that person alone. Or unarmed.

Hajime decided to leave most of the 77th class on the boat while Nagito, Kazuichi, Akane, Nekomaru, Mahiru, and himself scout out the city. Had he taken the lead they wouldn't really need to "scout" since Hajime can already guess where they can find just about anyone or anything in this city based off of the last time he visited, but that wouldn't be satisfactory. Izuru hadn't been more than a shadow on the wall last time Hajime stepped foot in this place, but on the other hand Nagito had been a main player in shaping the fate of the city by the role he had taken in the children's game and subsequent tutoring of Monaca Towa. So Nagito leads.

"Kids? Oh, children?" Nagito calls out to another empty street. His mechanical hand softly whirring as he cups his hands as if that would carry his voice any louder through the stale air.

Hajime suppresses a sigh. First order of business is finding Komaru and attempting to get an update on the stability of the city from her, but while there is a near certainty that they can find her living in the hotel next to the hospital Nagito instead has decided they should ask one of the brainwashed monokids for directions.

It is notable that the children are so scarce, but even with Komaru doing her best to hold the city in a balance this was an inevitable outcome once the adults were rallied into fighting back.

Izuru would have considered this expedition too boring to bother with. Hajime slows down, having taken notice of Mahiru kneeling to take a photo. "I thought you preferred to take pictures of smiling people?" he asks her while Nagito and the rest continue their search ahead.

Mahiru's eyes stay focused on her shot: the head of a monokuma robot impaled through its red eye weak spot with a broken pipe. A faint bloody hand print stains the upper jaw: evidence of a human's struggle. Only after she's satisfied with her line up and the click of her viewfinder going off does she acknowledge Hajime's words, "Mhm. Yes, but I think this sort of thing is important too. Maybe my mother would have known better what pictures I should be taking for this, but I'd like to document our progress if I can. So I need to take plenty of 'before' pictures to highlight what changes we make here."

Angle adjusted. Click.

"You have a good eye for composition. If you want we could send your photos to Makoto and his friends once we have finished up here. I'm sure those will make a lot of people smile if we can show the world fragments of recovery along with our journey," as he speaks Hajime wonders if her intentions were blatant enough that he didn't have to repeat it out loud for the sake of conversation. Boredom already dulling his perception of what they are all doing, but the question disappears from his mind as he watches a blush bloom across Mahiru's face. Her expression reminds Hajime that he wanted this.

"O-of course I would like that!" Mahiru holds her arms close to her chest with camera still in hand, not quite able to look Hajime in the eye while she talks, "Oh, but you better let me pick which ones to send. I mean, I know you probably have a talent for this sort of thing too so I can trust you to pick out the best. I just.... I just want to do this myself, you know?"

Her getting flustered over something so simple is cute in a way that makes Hajime chuckle, eliciting an even deeper red on Mahiru's face. He holds back on making tomato comparisons, as tempting as it is with how her blush threatens to match hues with her hair. Instead he holds his hand out to pull her back to her feet saying, "Deal," once her hand firmly grips his.

By this point the remainder of their scouting group has left their line of sight. Mahiru drops his hand to jog forward. "Oh, shoot. I didn't expect to fall behind like this. The picture was supposed to just take a second."

...

It doesn't take them long to find their group. There really weren't many directions to get lost in, especially while they are still so close to the coast. But what they see once they do reach the others stops them in their tracks: Akane is up one story high on a fire escape, holding a monokid over the edge while Nagito and Kazuichi raise their hands up as if to catch the child. Wouldn't it be easier for Nekomaru to have that job? Regardless that detail is pushed aside as Hajime registers the full picture. First his eyes trace the path Akane took with parkour to reach an open window starting with a trash can that was knocked over by her jump up the wall. From there she must have caught the window ledge and finally hopped over to the fire escape. The trash has spilled into a puddle of water leaving loose debris right where the two guys are standing. Nekomaru.... Nekomaru is observing, but his eyes are on Akane and judging the weight of the kid against what Nagito and Kazuichi can hold.

Akane lets the kid drop.

In a blink Hajime crosses the space between where Mahiru is still watching the scene mouth agape to his friends who predictably lost their footing on the garbage and slipped in the puddle as soon as the kid landed in their arms. They wouldn't be too hurt or anything if they did fall on the ground, but what good are all these talents if...... no. Hajime is thankful to have these athletic talents that allow him to rescue his friends. Even from minor inconveniences. Kazuichi and Nagito could have fallen any which way, but when the proverbial dust settles Hajime has his arms wrapped around their shoulders, propping them up.

"Eh? Hajime.... ?" Nagito turns his head towards him. While Nagito and Kazuichi did manage to catch the young boy in their arms their grip is weak enough that just that much distraction gives the monokid enough opportunity to break free with a shove. Running away from them and ducking out of sight just as quickly.

"H-hey!" Kazuichi attempts to regain his footing on his own and chase after the child but he ends up tripping over the trash on the ground and landing flat on his face in the puddle.

Well, Hajime can't always save them from their own foolishness.

Or just won't do it all the time anyway. Nagito takes a careful step forward and simply stares at Kazuichi with wide eyed interest while neglecting to offer a hand.

"Alright! Looks like it's my turn. You guys can leave it to me!" Nekomaru bellows as he rushes after the child deeper into the city. The thunder of his footsteps fading quickly.

"Did you guys really have to just drop that kid? You know Akane should have been able to jump down with him on her own," Mahiru huffs while pulling Kazuichi back to his feet. At the same time Akane hops to the ground with solid footing despite the garbage which only further proves Mahiru's point.

Akane smiles recalling a memory, "Oh, yeah. I think I did that sort of stuff all the time with my younger siblings!"

"See?"

Kazuichi could only grumble that it wasn't his idea in response, and this time Nagito does step in. He places his robotic hand on Kazuichi's shoulder, eliciting a shudder from the man though Kazuichi does not immediately shrug him off as Nagito explains, "With Akane's talent it is only natural she could handle such an athletic feat on her own! Nekomaru would be suitable too, really Kazuichi and I are pretty worthless at capturing these kids."

Kazuichi interrupts with a shout of "Hey!" and shoves him a step back.

Nagito drops his hand and continues undisturbed, "But don't you think it's lovely for us all to work together towards a goal? Aha, you know, I think it is all Hajime's fault we failed. His presence interfered with my luck after all."

"My fault?" that is what Hajime would say in response, so that is what he says. The quality of his own voice sounds too flat for his ears, but he just can't bring himself to care in this instance.

Nagito is observant, he would have noticed the slipping hazards all over the street.

Nagito is a risk taker, while there may have been a more straightforward method of getting the job done self sacrifice is a common trend in his behavior.

Nagito is talent obsessed, and with this city placed under his responsibility a test of his own talent's capability is an obvious course of action.

Nagito is...... predictable.

Boring.

......

Chiaki's precious classmate.

Nagito is Hajime's friend.

Hajime lightly pinches Nagito's cheek for being a jerk, "You're the one doing something unnecessary. Shouldn't you be thanking me for catching you?"

Nagito swats away the hand on his cheek. He then retaliates with a metal poke to Hajime's shoulder while he speaks with a dramatic flourish, "Oh, and how lucky of me to be caught in Hajime's arms! You weren't even there when I spotted the monokid so you along with Mahiru must have caught up with us with perfect timing. Now look at what happened."

As he finishes up his sentence Nagito sweeps his non poking arm out in the direction the monokid ran off too. Immediately following his gesture is a sudden shout by Nekomaru and the sound of an explosion going off. Kazuichi screams in surprise, clinging onto Mahiru who timidly asks "What was that" to nobody in particular. Nagito does widen his eyes not predicting his comeback to have that much irony, but he maintains his pose and eye contact.

_Do you see what you have done?_

Hajime pinches the bridge of his nose and sighs.

"The hell are you all just standin' around for, we gotta see if Coach is okay!" Akane shouts before sprinting off by herself. Hajime knows her instinctual gut feeling to be right more than not, so her focus on Nekomaru's safety over the prospect of getting into a brawl alongside him does motivate him to hurry up after her. Nevermind Nagito and his accusations. The other three aren't fighters, but Hajime is sure if they run into any trouble Kazuichi will scream loud enough for him to get to them before they can really get hurt.

What he sees when he finds Nekomaru is an incredible sight. The monokid had lured him into an alleyway with an ambush of monokuma robots flooding in. A giant ball monokuma is blocking the exit on the other side of the alley, and with it is a pair of bomber types throwing grenades. The grenades going off around Nekomaru's feet are not the cause of the explosion sound heard earlier, rather it seems he is in the midst of destroying several normal type monokumas that have surrounded him. While he has managed to damage a few monokumas bare handed to the point that it triggers their self destruct protocol the waves of robots will not stop pouring in unless he can get up to the siren type monokumas calling in reinforcements from their position half hanging out of the surrounding buildings' windows. What windows there are that aren't opened for the siren monokumas instead have monokids cheering on the battle.

"Coach!" Akane rushes in with a flying kick, knocking the head off of a monokuma that had been about to slash Nekomaru's back while he was occupied gripping the wrists of another monokuma still trying to push against him to attack him from the front.

Without the use of his hands Nekomaru headbutts the monokuma in front of him, causing it to stagger backwards from the force against its sensory inputs. He breathes hard after throwing a punch with enough force to finish off the monokuma. Hajime doesn't bother to analyze what it means for Nekomaru to be winded so soon after the fighting began, because with how naturally Akane has slipped into the fight at his back the two of them should be able to cover each other as necessary.

With a few sneaking talents on hand the monokuma robots completely overlook Hajime. First thing first the sirens have to go so he picks up a piece of rubble small enough to fit in the palm of his hand from the ground and with frightening speed and accuracy he throws it high in the air. A direct hit to the weak point, one siren down. Now the monokumas have detected him as a threat so a bomber type tosses a grenade his way, which is easily blocked by Hajime holding up a trash can lid. The grenade bounces off the lid without detonating upon impact as he angels the lid just right and instead it flies up to the nearest window. The bomb's explosion going off marks the second siren down.

The ball type attempts to slow Hajime down by throwing trash, but with Akane's fighting style of flipping through the air she ends up getting smacked in the face with an old cup of ramen in his place by chance. The noodles drip all over her face and it makes her pause. "Don't even think about eating that trash!" Nekomaru shouts as he steps in to protect Akane from the bombers next grenade lobbing. She voices her disappointment with an "Aww" but allows the noodles to fall off of her face and splat on the ground. Nekomaru throws the bombs that had been targeting her right back, causing both bomber monokumas to explode and triggering the ball type to roll towards the three of them.

"Oh, shit!"

Akane and Nekomaru dodge the ball type just in time, but Hajime sees an opportunity and jumps on top of it. Using the force of the spin combined with another leap gives Hajime enough height to reach the next window with a siren type waving out of it. The monokids in the adjacent window scream as he simply pulls the robot out the window allowing gravity to destroy the machine for him. Three down.

The remaining two sirens have moved away from the windows, no doubt rallying any monokumas left inside the building. Hajime jumps back down since there is no point chasing after them when the threat will come back on its own. Where the ball monokuma had been stationed more normal type monokumas rush in and crowd the alleyway. On the opposite side Kazuichi, Mahiru, and Nagito make their way in as well.

"You three stay back!" Nekomaru shouts after tackling down a normal type that had been close to their side of the alley. He struggles with his foe alone as Akane uses her parkour ability to lure the ball type into ramming through multiple monokumas at once.

Kazuichi takes his turn to scream, predictably, "What the hell! There's way too many of them!" Though his says that like he's scared Hajime can see a glint in his eyes showing his excitement watching the monokumas operate and the rain of their destruction scattering mechanical parts everywhere. It could be helpful for him to tinker with the scraps so Hajime drags a near complete husk over from one of the monokumas that had been decapitated by Akane.

"Do you have any tools on you, Kazuichi?" is all Hajime needs to ask.

Kazuichi nearly skips towards him already digging out a small kit from his jumper before answering in squeals of delight that might have been words of affirmation. The monokuma Nekomaru was fighting with explodes and he backs up to take a look at Kazuichi immediately getting to work disassembling parts from the robot body before him. Nekomaru is hesitant when he asks, "Uh, is this really the time for this? Those things just keep pouring in, maybe we should retreat for now?"

A chorus of monokumas call out "How troubling!" before exploding in tandem as Akane bowls them over with the attacking ball monokuma chasing her movements. Her laughter rings out following the sound of the booms.

Hajime couldn't care either way so he simply stands there. It's Mahiru who responds then, saying with a glance in Akane's direction, "Well I would say it looks like you guys have it handled, but are you okay, Nekomaru? I don't expect you to be the kind of man who wants to call it quits before things get really serious."

He laughs gruffly and scratches the back of his head. "You got me! I guess I'm just not feeling--"

Before he can finish his sentence however a monokuma leaps out of a window and lands in front of Nekomaru, which startles both him and Mahiru. The monokuma raises a paw with claws extended to take a swipe at her, something Hajime would have put a stop to except in that moment Nagito takes a casual step in front of Mahriu. Even then, Hajime is still ready to spring into action, but the monokuma stops mid swing while staring directly at Nagito's face. And then, a moment later, the monokuma reverts to a passive state.

Nagito laughs in relief, "Oh good, so they do still recognize me!"

"You didn't know that before you stepped in front of me?! You idiot!" Mahiru scolds him. All the same she stands just that much closer to him, nearly pressing herself against his back, knowing that the monokuma robots refuse to attack him. From behind the monokuma Nekomaru reaches out a cautious hand marveling at how it came to such a sudden stop, but as soon as his hand makes contact with it to get a closer look the monokuma seems to activate again. It bites his hand drawing blood and he shouts, unable to pull back with his hand trapped in monokuma's jaws.

Kazuichi stops his tinkering upon hearing Nekomaru scream but the only thing he can do is to yell at Nagito to "Do something!" and wave his arms uselessly. A sentiment Mahiru joins in on, shouting directly in Nagito's ears. "Do something!" His face scrunches in irritation and he takes in a big breath before waving his flesh hand in the monokuma's face to get back its attention.

"Oh mister Monokuma? The people with me today are allies, please do send that message to everyone."

The jaws immediately unclamp from Nekomaru's hand and the alleyway goes still all except for the sound of Akane crashing into one of the robots now that the momentum of her battle has come to a halt. Even the children are quiet and stand unnaturally still looking down at them from the windows.

Kazuichi jumps to his feet cradling his creation, "Wait a minute! It was that easy, seriously? Then what was the point of me making this weapon or all that fighting."

The weapon Kazuichi made, Hajime observes, is the arm of a monokuma detached and modified so that a person can wear it over their arm like a sleeve. Likely there is a hand grip inside the shell that would allow the user to extend the claws or retract them at will, and knowing Kazuichi's affinity for engines there might be some sort of power mode added to its functionality. It's an impressive feat coming from Kazuichi so quickly, but this isn't the time to start fighting over something petty so Hajime tells him, "I never asked you to make a weapon. That is just what you chose to do given the opportunity."

He doesn't have to explain why the fighting had to happen as Nagito handles that himself. "Perhaps I should have tried to find the children on my own," he says while beckoning some kids peeking through one building's back door entrance. Three do come out, only to cling around his waist while looking up at everyone else. Without facial expressions it is hard to tell what they are feeling exactly. Awkwardly, Nagito pats their head helmets with his robotic hand. Black and white metal thudding against black and white metal. "It seems they have become fearful of strangers. I am sorry that I hadn't considered how the fighting would effect their programming and we ended up getting caught up in something unnecessary. Even Nekomaru got hurt because of trash like me."

Nekomaru holds his bloodied hand in his other to squeeze pressure on the wound. Suddenly the sound of cloth ripping can be heard and Nekomaru gapes seeing Akane wrap the bottom portion of her shirt carefully around his hand. "What?" she says, "It's not like we brought any bandages or nothing with us."

The fighting is over now so Hajime tunes out the non relevant conversations. They can get Akane a new shirt once they move on from this task. Kneeling in front of Nagito to be on eye level with the kids Hajime pulls out a map he had drawn back on the boat and asks them, "Please point to the location Komaru Naegi and her companion Toko Fukawa can be found."

After some silent deliberation of swaying heads the kids detach themselves from Nagito's legs. A girl points near the center of the island to -- as predicted, the hotel closest to the bridge that would have led outside of the city. Boring. Nagito bends down to ask, "And where are they likely to be when they are not home?" The other two kids immediately point towards the hospital, when their fingers collide one kid slides across the map south towards the graveyard. Hajime can guess that what the kid really means is the sewer access there.

There's no particular reason for the hospital to be such a hotspot for Komaru. At least not to Hajime's understanding as he never cared for each individual player in the children's game, but he knows enough that the sewer access in this city leads to the underground base claimed by the adults of the city. The hospital may be in the territory of the middle ground between adults and children then, with Towa Hills and the factory supplying the children located up north. The hotel the girls are staying in is also neutral territory in that case.

Nagito continues to question the children, "Good, good. Now, where is Monaca?"

The kids point up. Not up north or anywhere on the map at all, simply up to the sky.

"Oh, is she dead?" The kids shake their heads no. They bounce their arms emphasizing up. Up, up. "The Excalibur?" The kids point both their hands up high to the sky and they hop. Up, up, up!

Kazuichi squeals in delight, "She made herself a rocket ship and went to space!"

Both Hajime and Nagito stop to stare at Kazuichi. Nagito asks, "How would you know that?" while the children finally nod and clap their hands in response to the correct answer they were looking for. Up in space, that would mean.....

Kazuichi puffs out his chest clearly proud of himself in this situation. He says, "Hey now, I know we're here because Nagito's had business with these damn brats and all, but I've got my own history with this city. Right after our graduation I applied for a maintenance job on the Towa payroll, you know the kind of job any tech guy would dream about. 'Course it was all that Junko's idea that I learn all about this air purifying system they'd been working on for years so I could reverse engineer the process..... and uh, so I could... pollute the rest of the world. Anyway! It's always been a dream of mine to make my own rocket ship and send that baby to space, so I must've left some schematics I would make when I was bored back in the Towa workshop."

"So you think she made a ship based off of your own designs, is that so? Then she really is dead then, what a shame.... she had so much potential too," Nagito sighs after trailing off at the end of his sentence. With the way he presses his lips in a thin line Hajime can guess that he must be wondering if it is fine to mourn her loss in potential when that potential was geared towards despair. That is his fault, partially.

Nagito doesn't get a lot of time to contemplate how he feels about the Monaca situation because Kazuichi snaps at him, yanking the front of his shirt and shouting in his face, "Fuck off! That was my best work you asshole!"

It's a golden opportunity to joke around, so Hajime adds, "Well it really just depends on how long she's been up there. We can't say for certain that she's already dead yet." For good measure he pats Kazuichi on the back and the diversion works as the man lets go of Nagito with a heel spin to face Hajime.

"Whoa, c'mon man you can't doubt me now. What about soul friends? Don't take his side!" Kazuichi huffs out and desperation is written all over his face from the flush of his face to the tears welling up in his eyes. Right, Kazuichi fears betrayal more than most.

Hajime holds his hands up chest height in surrender. Though he still laughs before saying, "I'm not taking anyone's side, okay? We're just going to have to check up on her while we're here. Even if she had the most perfectly designed rocket to get to space you should realize there's more to going to space than just getting there."

Such as, is the rocket she took up actually habitable or did she just pack her things and leave?

But they don't get to argue over this topic further, because just outside the alley they hear a group of voices approaching. Adult voices that they do not recognize.

"Hey! I think those explosions came from over here!"

"Is anyone missing? Do you think someone tried to fight those monsters on their own again?"

"Yeah well, I'm going to fucking kill those brats. This time for sure!"

The conversation gets progressively more violent from there. The mentality of those who have fallen deep into their own rage. So consumed by negative impulse that it would be easy to call them inhumane as they are, but that would be too easy. Of course they are still human, this is the nature Junko Enoshima set out to exploit and spread to the world. Despair in human form.

The group of people turn into the alleyway. They stop at the entrance as they see the six of them, the broken and unbroken monokumas, and also the monokids. Especially the three kids that had just answered questions for them, now huddling behind Nagito.

"Hey," a tired, middle aged once-salaryman calls out, "You're going to finish off these demonic brats, right?"

The golf club he leisurely has resting over his shoulder has dried blood on it.

Some twenty-something punk beside the older man barks out, "Yeah, what the fuck is going on in here, huh?! I ain't never seen these little shits get that close to an adult without a fucking knife to stab 'em in the back, yet you all seem awfully chummy here."

All the monokumas in the alleyway enter a reactivated state with their red eyes glowing brightly against the dull scenery. Soon they will charge at their new targets.

Hajime dryly warns them, "You people should leave here."

Next from that group to speak up is a middle-aged woman, "You're not from around here. You look like adults but there's no way one of our own would side with those... those monsters! You have no idea what we've been through!"

"I don't care," he tells her, and Hajime really doesn't. He knows he probably should on some level, considering he came to Towa to resolve this conflict between adults and children, but more importantly.... he turns to his friends, "We're not getting involved in this. Let's go."

This pisses off the group of adults and some other one shouts, "Don't look down on us!"

Poking out from taking discrete cover behind Hajime, Mahiru has her camera out taking a picture of the group back lit from the street behind them. With the camera still in front of her face, she whispers, "Is it okay for us to just go? What about the kids?"

At this point the boiling point of anger for the despairful adult group has been reached and the punk adult throws a crudely homemade dagger straight at Mahiru. By the time it gets in range for Hajime to swat it out of the air and for the dagger to uselessly clatter to the ground, the siren monokuma types left alive from earlier suddenly burst in from the back door. And with them are more bomber types and even a couple of nasty looking, spidery junk type monokumas.

Hajime picks up the three kids in the middle of the alleyway that were standing next to them; two under one arm and the third under his other arm. Most of the remaining kids are still inside the buildings looking on from the windows. Hajime says, "Go," and they all start running towards the other end of the alley to exit out the next street.

Some adults attempt to chase after them, but quickly get overwhelmed by the monokuma forces in such a confined space. Behind them are the sounds of weapons clashing against metal, some battle cries, the eerie squeakiness of the junk types, and also screams of terror and pain. Senseless bloodshed. That group really should have just left when Hajime told them to. But now that conflict is literally behind them, so they press forward.

On their way out Hajime drops off the kids in his arms a few blocks away, Nekomaru spots a white button up shirt that is big enough to actually comfortably fit over Akane's chest though it hangs a little loosely over her midriff, and all the while Kazuichi holds on to his new weapon like he's cradling an infant. They stopped running as soon as they couldn't hear the sounds from that alleyway anymore so Mahiru has gotten a few more scenery photos as well. Whenever do see any new monokumas wandering the streets or even the rare sighting of a child then Nagito will wave towards them, usually not getting a response beyond the passive acceptance that allows them to pass through the city undisturbed but sometimes a child or monokuma will wave back.

Soon enough they find a building that with some graffiti has been labeled a "love hotel" on the sign at the front entrance. It once actually was a fairly nice hotel before the conflict started but for the past several weeks it has become the temporary home of Komaru and Toko. Minor repairs to the building make it easier to walk through without having to climb over high ledges and there are now crude patches to the holes in the floor with planks. It's not exactly beautiful to look at, more like a scar over a fresh wound, but it shows that the city is ready to begin healing.

The building has a few floors with completely intact rooms the girls could be living in. Akane points her thumb down one hallway and asks, "Yo, Nagito, do you know which room they're staying in or are we going to have to just start knocking?"

Nagito continues walking down the hallway, looking carefully at the room doors. He hums deep in thought when he replies, "Well they are still living in the same building I remember them staying in. Before we start knocking and announce our presence I think we should begin with the room they were sharing together last time I was in Towa."

"Wait, they were sharing a room together? But there's nothing wrong with all these other rooms, right? They're sharing a room?" Kazuichi is too excited to not be taking their living arrangement the wrong way. In response, Mahiru is glaring at the back of his head silently daring him to say something inappropriate. Just one word to set her off on him.

Nagito shrugs, "Yes, because ghosts. If my sources are correct."

"G-ghosts?!" Akane actually shivers at the thought. She quickly braces herself to be more imposing while she processes this information though. Acting tough doesn't completely take away the shred of fear in her voice as she continues, "Nobody told me this place would be haunted! I.... I mean that would be just stupid right? Who the hell would live in a building if there's ghosts."

"Ghosts, huh?" Kazuichi is less enthusiastic, but he's not totally buying that explanation either. At least he isn't having anymore perverted thoughts about the two girls. He looks over his shoulder back at Mahiru who has stopped glaring to ask her, "Say, if there's ghosts.... do you think your camera could get them on film? Like if we couldn't see the ghost..... Or maybe that's only a special kind of camera. Maybe if we need a ghost detecting camera I'd need to mess with its settings, what do you think?"

"Don't be stupid!" Mahiru adjusts the strap over her shoulder to push her camera case behind her back out of Kazuichi's sight. "There's no way I'm going to catch something like a ghost on camera and I don't want you anywhere near my equipment. We should just drop the subject, okay?"

Mahiru shifts her eyes over to Akane.

"I just checked; there's no ghosts in this building," Hajime lies. About checking the building. All he really needs is to sound convincing to drop the subject, and if ghosts do exist and if one were to bother his friends then that's a bridge he'll have to cross in the unlikely event he has to deal with it. The closest he's had to deal with ghosts has been talking with the image of Chiaki that exists in his mind from the end of his time in the Neo World Program. But that doesn't prove there are ghosts when that Chiaki is more like... an echo.

"Oh, what talent was that, Hajime?" Nagito is so earnest that Hajime can practically hear a shine sound effect accompanying that question. Leave it to Nagito to not get that he's trying to change the subject.

Instead of answering, Hajime points a few doors down, "That's their room, isn't it?"

"So it is. Well then...." Nagito frowns at having his question ignored, but he steps towards said door anyway. The rest of the group stay where they are so they don't overwhelm whoever answers the door. Nagito looks back towards everyone once before raising his hand to knock.

"Coming!" is a shout they hear through the door. So they are in luck, Komaru is home after all. It takes a minute or so before they hear locks being undone and Komaru swings the door open wide to greet her guest, "Hello, welco--"

Komaru gasps mid greeting when her eyes register just who it is knocking on her door. Hurriedly she says, "No thank you, we don't need any!" as if shooing away an annoying door to door salesperson before slamming the door in Nagito's face.

Or at least she attempted to slam the door. What really happened was that she slammed the door against something preventing the door from being shut all the way. That something being Nagito's metal arm that he had shoved in the door frame before Komaru had the chance to shut him out.

"Ahaha, aren't I lucky to have this?" Nagito comments as Komaru tries slamming the door again as if it would work a second time. The door audibly cracks. It's impressive how much force she could put into her efforts, though Nagito's arm does not budge.

"Go away!" she yells slamming the door again and again on his metal arm. From somewhere within the hotel room they hear movement and a muffled, "Who the hell is it?"

"Please calm down, Komaru. I just want to talk," Nagito attempts to disarm the situation. Fittingly so, as Kazuichi takes a shaky step forward complaining under his breath that Nagito is going to damage the fine machinery of his arm if he just lets her beat it up like this. Hajime made sure it was built sturdy, but Kazuichi still has a point. On the boat they'd agreed to let Nagito handle the talking, so no one is willing to step in just yet. Not that many of them seem to know what to do if Komaru is this against talking to Nagito in the first place, so Hajime resigns himself to knowing it'll have to be up to him to turn this situation around if it gets much worse.

Like how Toko is at the door now, swinging it open once more to see what all the fuss is about.

When she speaks her stuttering does nothing to hide the disgust Toko feels when she sees Nagito herself, "Wh-what the? You? What are y-you doing here, c-cant you see you-- you're unwanted! I... I'll use her if I have to. So back off, f-fuckface."

"Wow, how scary," Nagito says without actually sounding at all afraid, causing Toko grit her teeth. He switches the positioning of his robotic hand so he can comfortably grip the door frame before he continues, "Certainly I wouldn't want to be on a serial killer's bad side. However, I wouldn't be here at all if it were not important. Don't you think so too?"

"Like I g-give a damn what your reason is!" Toko once again slams the door shut. Unlike Komaru though she doesn't reopen the door to keep slamming. She shouts behind her, "Komaru! Go get a spatula or some pliers o-or something so we can pry this bastard's hand out. We don't have time to deal with this!"

Even through the door Nagito continues trying to communicate, "Oh, are you two busy? I do not mean to intrude on anything important you two could be doing to restore hope to Towa. If that is the case I would not mind returning at a later time!"

"Sh-shut up! I wasn't talking to you, creep!"

There's more shuffling inside the hotel room. They cant have that much stuff in there since there is only the one room and a bathroom inside. And then Komaru speaks again, "Hey, since his hand is made of metal now do you think the megaphone might be able to Break it?"

Toko responds with a "Might as well try" and Kazuichi is biting his nails now. He still doesn't speak above a whisper, "Hajimeeee, this is bad."

"His hand is too mechanical to be effected," is all Hajime says to reassure his friend that Nagito isn't about to get his arm destroyed over this inane exchange.

But it is boring to watch.

And Nagito is getting nowhere talking to the girls.

So Hajime snatches the monokuma arm weapon out from Kazuichi's protective hold on it and slides it over his arm. As predicted the controls are very intuitive for extending and retracting the claws and there's even a button just out of the way to not be accidentally pressed but clearly meant to be used that activates a motor in the arm.

With his own enhanced physical strength and the aid of the power arm Hajime slices through the door near it's hinges as easily as slicing butter. The girls on the other side scream as to their perspective a monokuma might as well have just clawed its way into their place of rest. With the motor still humming it comes to mind for Hajime that to a normal person this sort of easy power would feel exceptionally good, potentially addictive depending on the user. The motor is quiet but just loud enough that he can imagine Kazuichi especially taking a liking to the weapon. He mentally notes that if he has time he'll have to check the design for failsafes later as he turns off the power. For now, the door has been separated from its hinges so Hajime kicks it forward with enough force to send Toko flying back with it. Revealing a confused Komaru to stare stunned at the sudden show of force.

"Hey!" it takes a moment, but Komaru responds, "you can't just break down the door to a girl's room like that!"

Hajime tilts his head up and down the frame to make it clear to Komaru he's looking at the damage he's done. From the mangled hinges to the splinters of what remains of the door that haven't landed in chunks on top of Toko. All he can say is, "I can fix it."

Mahiru stomps up to point a judgemental finger under his nose, "Hajime, that's not the point! We're not here to intrude into girls private lives, I would have expected better from you."

Over her shoulder Hajime can also see Nagito giving him a strange, displeased look. When their eyes catch Nagito shifts his gaze to the palm of his hand and says, "Seriously, Hajime, bullying girls is not cool. Next time you get bored, perhaps you should step outside?"

Hajime bristles at that. Between the two of them he would have predicted that Nagito would be the one behaving in such a way to be asked to leave the room first. Not to be harsh on Nagito, it's just Hajime doesn't see himself as having the type of character that would run into that sort of trouble. Or didn't anyway. There's been a lot about himself that's become different and new since the Neo World Program changed him. Would an outside perspective see him as that kind of person now? Or is it just Nagito?

Looking back at Mahiru, Hajime does wonder if he would be feeling embarrassed right now if it weren't for his surgically stunted emotions getting in the way. Or is annoyance what he's meant to be feeling? He could blush now if that's what they expect from him, but he doesn't. With his free hand not wearing the monokuma sleeve he gently lowers Mahiru's hand away from his face. He can predict how his friends would respond to an emotional expression at this time but instead of allowing that to play out he ignores Mahiru's frustration to step in front of her.

Genocider is awake.

Komaru has yet to realize this yet so she's still shouting at them, "Ugh, it was bad enough just having to deal with you, Mr. Servant Guy, but did you really have to bring all these other weird people too!"

Hajime takes another step forward ensuring he's the first person the serial killer will see and not Nagito.

"Why did you even come here anyway! You haven't bothered us in.... weeks! I don't know how long it's been exactly but at least that long!"

Komaru's pouting comes to a stop as a shrill laugher shrieks out from under the broken door. Rising unnaturally like a reanimated corpse in a horror film stands the former blood lust killer in all her glory. Her signature scissors manage to still shine even in the dim light of the hotel. Before she does anything rash, Genocider verbally announces her presence to the world, "Now you see her, now you don't! It is I, your friendly neighborhood serial killer! Now then, who dares stand in the way of my meeting with Master! Could it be.... you!"

Hajime doesn't even flinch as he catches the flying pair of scissors midair with his index and middle finger. Just holding it in his hand he can tell that she's kept the blades well sharpened. Unlike the megaphone, this is a weapon that might actually damage Nagito's arm or worse if Hajime allowed such harm to come to his friends. The killer didn't aim for any vital points so Hajime lets the scissors drop without retaliating. Obviously Genocider is holding back, so he can too.

"My, my, my! What quick reflexes we have on this one, hmm?" Genocider saunters up to be nearly toe to toe with Hajime at the threshold of the room, a new pair of scissors in each hand. She points one under his chin before declaring, "You're a little plain for my tastes though. You're nearly as average looking as Komaru over there, except --oh my!-- what beautifully exotic eyes you have! Heterochromia is a bit of a cliche for overpowered nuisances, I must admit, but those colors are about the only thing that make you stand out besides that stupid lock of hair you got there. Seriously, are you some sort of Makoto fanboy or something?"

Nagito peeks around the doorframe to ask, "Did you say 'meeting'? Does that mean Byakuya is coming to Towa?"

Genocider bends sideways from the hip trying to get a better look behind Hajime. All the good humor she previously shown seems to zap out of her the moment she recognizes Nagito. Standing up straight again she snaps at him, "The only one coming is going to be me! For you see, Master is already in the city and waiting. So don't get any ideas of stealing Master away or standing in my way to him or I'll slice you to pieces!"

Akane squeezes her way into the doorway on the other side of Hajime not occupied by Nagito. Hajime doesn't budge out of the way so she doesn't manage to force her way in more than her upper half. It doesn't damper her enthusiasm as she says, "So you're saying we gotta fight you, right? You're on! Hajime, get out of my way!"

She tries wiggling her way into the room, but Nekomaru pulls her back. He reminds her, "Hey, Akane, we came here to talk to these girls. Not Byakuya."

"W-wait, wait!" Kazuichi shouts from the back, "If the real Byakuya is here doesn't that mean the Future Foundation is too? Is it safe for us to be in the city right now?"

"Hey, Komaru, can you tell us what this meeting is about?" to speak to the other girl in the room Mahiru gets up on her tiptoes to see clearly over Hajime's shoulder. She's avoiding having to place a hand on Hajime's back to support herself, but he can feel her hovering close just in case. "I can sort of already guess since Byakuya came all the way here, but this could be good for all of us."

Between the killer wanting out of the room and all of his friends crowding around his back, Hajime is starting to get sandwiched in. It's actually kind of pleasant to have everyone so close. He's never been much of a very touchy feely guy, but it feels so.... human. Would have Izuru been able to appreciate this feeling, if only ever so briefly? Hajime knows he wouldn't have indulged in the first place if he had a choice in it.

How pointless.

Komaru wraps her arms around one of Genocider's, rooting her in place despite the threatening stance she had taken.

Genocider answers first, "The fuck's it matter to you chumps? Out of my way!"

Genocider may be waving her free arm around and pulling herself away from Komaru, but realistically even being in Komaru's arms as she is there is nothing stopping Genocider from attacking if she really wanted to. Komaru tugs back, embracing her tighter before she looks again at their unexpected guests. She says, "Hmph, well I was expecting my brother to come save me from this city finally, but Byakuya says he's still busy with some stuff with the Future Foundation. So he came instead to talk to us about our options."

The sigh Genocider lets out is halfway a growl when she stops struggling to talk to her friend, "Omaru, they don't need to know what we're doing. They're the enemy!"

"Yeah, well, they aren't getting out of our way. Let's just get this over with before we're late for the meeting."

"If you would just-- Let! Go! I could make mincemeat out of them already."

The girls look like they could keep arguing about this for some time, but Nagito interrupts them, "Oh, what a coincidence! We're here because we wanted to talk to you two about what can be done to free this city from despair. May we join your meeting?"

The girls pause their little fight in tangle of limbs wrapped around each other.

"Umm, that..." Komaru glances toward Genocider but the other girl's glare does nothing to help her finish her sentence.

So Mahiru backs up Nagito's request by adding, "Please? You can check in with Byakuya to see if it's okay first since it's probably not a good idea for us to just show up without warning, but at least give it that much consideration?"

"We could.... call," Komaru lets go of Genocider to raise a hand to her chin in thought.

Genocider suddenly lets out an exaggerated groan and shrugs, "Ugh, well you heard it from Miss Komaru. We can call, so let's just do it and get it over with already! The worst that can happen is Master will say yes to these extras! Kyahahaha!"

As Hajime predicted, it was actually much easier to achieve their end goal with the serial killer personality fronting. Simply being able to ask and gain permission is a faster solution than the argument that no doubt would have broken out had they continued to fuss over the door jam. Behind him he can feel the others relax and it relieves the pressure he had felt standing between them and the two girls.

Soon they will be able to discuss the future of Towa.


	3. You and You

"Master Byakuyaaaaaaaaaa!" Genocider shrieks as their destination comes into sight. She sprints at an incredible speed to Byakuya now that he is within her reach.

From the outside it looks like any other office building in the business district, nothing special about it at all.

And on the inside the building is also completely barren of any distinguishing features.

Yet walking through the halls with everyone leaves Nagito's heart thumping. Really, it's so lucky that he is able to meet members of the 78th class again so soon! They could probably handle the conflict in Towa without him; Komaru certainly has become such a strong girl. And to combine her will with the hopes of the class that defeated Junko Enoshima, the one he hates the most......

It's terrifying.

Nagito knows he's only going to screw everything up just by being here. Butting in to the solution as if there's anything he could possibly do right for the world. Can Hajime not predict that there is only one way for this to go? Does he care? It is also scary to think Hajime knows and is letting this happen anyway. So scary that Nagito hugs his arms around his chest. The metal hand Hajime gave to him is more firm but the unyielding pressure does give some comfort.

Hajime has luck too, Nagito has to believe in that luck. Believe in it long enough to calm down and not immediately embarrass himself once he sees Byakuya Togami. And whoever is with Byakuya today, perhaps Makoto? Or no, that could be worse. Komaru may not have had a proper reunion with her brother yet and that would be a stroke of good luck too good to see in person without disastrous consequences. A sight too beautiful to behold by one such as himself. And anyway Komaru already said he was busy, but does that make it more or less likely that he could show up and surprise her? What a dangerous line of thought.

"We're here," Hajime says as they enter a hallway where Genocider can be heard squealing with joy in an open room. It's obvious they've arrived by that alone, but with everyone's attention on the doorway Nagito is shocked to feel Hajime grab his arm and squeeze it. They make eye contact for just a moment and it's gone in a blink as Hajime moves on ahead.

It's such a simple gesture, but somehow it works. Nagito drops his arms to his sides like normal and he feels fine. Whatever passes for fine these days anyway.

"Hey, Nekomaru," Hajime speaks up before they make it down the hall to their destination. Again there is purposefulness to his actions. Since the program something has changed about Hajime that makes him even more mysterious than he was before. Because before he was mysterious for not even knowing his own potential, while this Hajime very much does. And, as Nagito continues to hear Hajime speak, "You seem a little off your game today. If you need to rest it's fine if you want to use an empty room while we just talk. Take Akane with you and stick close in case something happens, and we'll explain the plan to you with everyone else back on the boat."

Even when he speaks so casually there is something _knowing_ behind his words these days that is beyond an observer's comprehension.

Nekomaru and Akane break off from the group to step into an adjacent room. No one questions it.

Once they begin filling the room Komaru says, "Hello, Byakuya. I'm here, uh, with guests. Just, the Remnants of Despair here to sit in on our meeting about what to do next with this city."

So she's a little nervous about their sudden intrusion. Byakuya on the other hand simply sighs as he closes his laptop he had been typing on. "I am well aware of who you let follow you here today. For the time being we're electing to trust them thanks to your brother, so there is no need to make a big deal about it."

Byakuya glaces to Yasuhiro, the only other member of the 78th class to show up to this meeting who wasn't already in the city. The man has put intense focus on polishing a crystal ball and doesn't even acknowledge Byakuya or anyone. In fact he's outright avoiding making any sort of eye contact. Well then.

Everyone takes seats around the meeting table, but once more Hajime has something to say before it can start, "May I borrow your laptop, Byakuya?"

This gives the man pause and he scowls, "What for?"

"That laptop connects with the Future Foundation database, right? Once I've assessed the security features I'm going to install a program that will allow us to get into contact with each other in the future without being spied on," Hajime stops there to glance out the window. They are on a high enough floor for this that the only potential spies out there would be snipers. Not that they should have to worry about that today. He looks back towards Byakuya, "I will need some time to get necessary equipment together on our end, but for Makoto Naegi's sake, you will trust me."

Byakuya begrudgingly slides his laptop across the table, "So I take it you have no intention of participating in our discussion while you work on this side project?"

Without breaking eye contact Hajime opens the laptop and cracks the sign in password. _So predictable_ , his face says. But what he tells Byakuya is, "I will be listening. However, this conversation is not my burden to bear."

"Fine then," Byakuya turns towards everyone else at the table as Hajime gets to work. He points towards Makoto's sister, "Komaru, you start. Give a brief report on the state of the city so we're all on the same page. Taking in consideration that some are only joining us now."

"Yeah, okay!" Komaru jumps to her feet with all the confidence of a high schooler made to stand in front of class to make a presentation. In that she clearly knows her subject well but the experience is awkward for her still. "Okay, so. The most basic thing everyone needs to know is that the city is at war between children and adults. The children all have those weird monokuma metal masks on their heads that are brainwashing them, so this is totally not their fault at all but they can't stop what they are doing either. If we try to tamper with the helmet or programming without knowing exactly what we are doing the most important thing to know is that those helmets are rigged with explosives that could kill one or even all of the kids in the city. Everyone got that so far?"

She breathes in deep, the more she spoke the less she stopped to take in air trying to get it all out. For the majority of people in the room none of this information is new at all, but the momentary break does give Mahiru a chance to nod and say, "I thought as much when I saw some kids on our way inside the city. The model is a little bit different but the concept is similar to how Despair quickly overtook the people of Novoselic and the Kuzuryu Clan to build armies. Amongst others. One goal we would like to accomplish here is finding a safe way to release those people, starting with the kids of course."

Byakuya leans back in his chair and tilts his head back before saying, "Hmph, so the children are just guinea pigs to your bunch then?"

Mahiru gasps, "What? No! That's horrible, we're trying to avoid casualties and this city is our best shot at accomplishing that. Nagito worked closely with Monaca, who we know instigated the conflict here, so we have the advantage if we can get to her computers."

"Yeah!" Kazuichi jumps to back her up and gives a friendly slap to Nagito's back, "And besides, this guy here is still recognized as one of them so we should be able to walk right on in!"

"Oh?" Genocider has since changed back into Toko since the boring conversation started, "S-so you just get to waltz on in how-however you damn well please. Well, isn't that just p-peachy. Komaru and I are here every day busting our asses and _you_ can just w-walk by and fix everything. Just like that, huh."

Nagito feels his mouth pull into a polite smile, "We would certainly be in luck if it turned out to be that simple. But that's not the only problem plaguing this city, isn't it, Komaru?"

"Oh, yeah," her spirit dampens a bit being reminded of what else is out there. "Even if we were able to free the children, there's the adult camp fighting against them. I know they know the kids are innocent under those masks-- I tell them every day! But they wont listen to me! Mr. Haiji Towa incited them to feel pure hatred towards the kids and I haven't been able to talk to him at all to ask him to calm his people down since we broke that gaudy Big Bang Monokuma. So even if we were to free the kids the adults of this city wouldn't show them any mercy and would just use that vulnerability to their advantage to be cruel."

Komaru even tears up thinking about what the adults will do to the kids once they are freed. Kazuichi starts to mumble something about being disappointed he didn't get to see his Big Bang project in motion, but he cannot finish the thought as he looks at how sad Komaru looks. Even Yasuhiro is moved enough to place his crystal ball on the table and offer, "Hey! You know I think there's a working coffee machine down the hall; how about I go get everyone a hot drink. So please don't cry, Naegsis!"

He nearly jumps out of his chair and stumbles over to Byakuya's briefcase to pull out..... a cup? A fancy tea cup and an expensive looking package of coffee grounds. The man promises Byakuya to make it "just the way he likes it" and leaves the room before anyone else has a chance to specify their tastes. As Yasuhiro slams the door behind him his crystal ball rolls off the table and shatters on the floor like the cheap piece of junk it is.

"I... I wasn't about to cry! I'm not a crybaby!" Komaru defensively shouts as the man leaves.

"Anyway," Byakuya clears his throat bringing attention back towards him, "So you Remnants had an idea of what you wanted to do about the children of the city, but do you have a plan prepared for the adults that we should be aware of?"

"Uuuuhhhh, well," Kazuichi fidgets in his seat and glances over to Hajime. But Hajime does not acknowledge him; his fingers dance across the keyboard fluidly as he types up some sort of code at a fast pace. Next, Kazuichi turns pleading eyes towards Nagito.

"Now, there's no reason for us to have come up with a plan for everything. If we could just swoop in and fix everything on our own we would have already done so, but isn't it more exciting to see what everyone can come up with together?" Nagito claps his hands and holds them there for a moment with a shine in his eyes. It wasn't wrong for Kazuichi to look towards Hajime first as he likely could spell out a plan they could enact easily. But that would be, as Hajime loves to say these days, boring. For a similar reason Nagito doesn't even want to try thinking up his own plan at ths junction. It would be such a waste of everyone's potential in contributing to something truly wonderful. "Please, do tell us if you had any plans and we shall see how we may assist you."

"So then," Komaru says looking around the room and at the papers left on the table since the day of the children's riot began, "when it comes to the adults we're on square one not knowing what to do next. Uh, should we be writing this down somewhere?"

"Toko, make yourself useful," Byakuya commands, but glances at his occupied laptop. "We'll have to make due with pen and paper for the time being."

Being acknowledged, Toko gasps and starts tearing apart the room searching for suitable paper and a writing utensil she can use. Shelves spill to the floor and work papers go flying in her enthusiasm. All the while she's talking to herself, rambling her enjoyment to fulfill her master's orders. Byakuya frowns.

"Actually," Mahiru raises her hand in this sudden chaos, "while I can't say I have a plan exactly, I do have some information that would be useful to us in dealing with the adult's of the city. As a member of Despair it was my duty to capture significant events in shaping the world, so I actually have photographic evidence of the Towa family partnering with Junko Enoshima that we could use to blackmail Mr. Towa. If we would like to consider that option, of course."

Mahiru finishes by placing her camera bag on the table, a rather literal way of keeping their options visible. Kazuichi pumps his fist exclaiming "Nice one!" at the sight.

"By Mr. Towa I hope you don't mean the senior since he.... he uh....." Komaru's voice trails off into a whine and she holds her hands out in front of her as if holding a basketball sized object. "A while back I kind of had to.... decapitate him. Uh! I mean! He was already dead when I found him! He's been dead since before all this rioting started,I wasn't involved in that!"

"And like Komaru said," Toko slowly says, pulling some blank paper from a cabinet near the door, "We haven't b-been able to reach that bastard Haiji since we crushed his dreams of killing all those brats. Who knows if he even gives a damn about the Towa company anymore when he just hides underground like a coward. Tsk, and to think Towa used to compete with the Togami family in business and wealth, what a waste of genes."

She slams her blank paper on the table and scoots her chair closer to Byakuya's seat. Toko nearly purrs as she asks her classmate how much he wants her to write down with the pen she found somewhere in her search.

So Byakuya ignores her to ask, "How certain are you that using this information can help us?"

"Oh, well," sweat beads on her forehead as Mahiru isn't so sure of herself now. A pity after the hope she was able to raise with her own personal contribution. "Are you sure that he would be unaffected if we were to smear the Towa family's image? The whole point of our deal was to prop up the company as a savior to the people of this city...."

To not even have the confidence to finish that sentence is more than a little disappointing for Nagito to listen to. On the tip of his tongue he wants to say "Is that the extent of your hope?" but he manages to rein that in. Everyone is sick of him talking about hope. They must be. His slate may not be clean but he's on a fresh start with his classmates, he has to remember that. However inevitable it is that they'll come to hate him like everyone else, Nagito holds on to a shred of hope that _maybe this time things will be different_.

Because of the hope he's carried with him since he woke up in his pod, Nagito instead says, "Does it really matter if Haiji reacts or not? Our target is influencing the masses in this city. Faced against one with an Ultimate level in public manipulation such as Mahiru whose kept her skills sharpened in these years of Despair there is nothing the common people can do but bend to her talent. Make no mistake, we have the advantage here."

Nagito had meant to sound a little cool like a protagonist with such a declaration, but it gets undercut by Yasuhiro's return because the moment he crosses the threshold of the room he trips over his own feet. Coffee and cups go flying with Yasuhiro prioritizing not allowing Byakuya's cup shatter. He stumbles into a dive for the cup and it bounces out of his hand once, twice.... on the third try he catches it and sighs in relief. Being in the splash zone near the door Hajime picks up the laptop and vaults over the table without taking his eyes off of the screen. Nagito had been sitting next to Hajime, but just sitting in his seat he manages to avoid any of the mess being dumped on him.

Lucky.... ?

"Y-you damn idiot! You nearly spilled coffee on Master Byakuya!" having already searched the room Toko dashes out to the hallway to grab any paper towels that might be back at the coffee machine.

"Sorry! Sorry! I'll make a new batch right away! I'll-- Oh shit, my crystal ball!" Yasuhiro yells as he's noticed his shattered ball amongst the broken cups and spilled drinks.

Everyone except Byakuya and Hajime pitch in to help with the clean up after that. Mahiru and Kazuichi leave to get everyone their drinks with Yasuhiro this time as Toko returns with a roll of paper towels and a broom. Komaru pulls over a trash can so Nagito helps her by sweeping the crystal ball and coffee cup shards into the bin. There is still a bit of a stain on the floor after Toko blots up the coffee but while it is ugly Nagito doesn't comment on it. They only have so much to work with and this building will need to be renovated before it is fit for public use, so a stain on the carpet can't be helped. After that bit of clean up everyone returns to their seats with fresh hot coffee waiting for them.

"So, uh, Nagito was going on about something, right?" Kazuichi scratches the back of his head. "Mahiru, something about your talent. Do you think your blackmail photos can reach a bunch of pissed off guys out for kid blood?"

Mahiru eyes her cup of coffee, running her fingers across the lip and pushing the handle from one side to the other. She doesn't raise her eyes up from the dark liquid even when she replies, "Only if the people are willing to listen. We'd need to secure a way to reach the eyes and ears of the city for my photos to be effective, but it's not like everyone regularly reads the paper around here so our options may be limited if we're not approaching this one to one."

"Then just broadcast it on the tv like the brats did when they st-started these damn riots. You said the monokuma helmet kids recognize you as one of their own right? Then there's nothing stopping you, s-so quit moping!" Toko smacks her cup down on the table roughly. The contents slosh around but she flinches seeing Byakuya's cup vibrate with the force of her slam. Nothing spills and she relaxes even if he's glaring at her now.

"That's not going to work," Byakuya says now holding his cup off the table to take the occasional sip. "If Haiji could be persuaded to do as we say through blackmail that could be an option I would consider viable, but if we target the rioting adults shaking their faith in their supposed leader will only serve to create a greater unrest in the city. Worst case scenario the Future Foundation will no longer hold back on retaking the city by force should the fighting become too chaotic to contain."

"Whoa, dudes! If the Future Foundation steps in they'll kill everyone in the name of cleaning up the city," Yasuhiro raises his arms high above his bowed head in prayer form. "I've got a girlfriend in this city, pretty please don't let it come to that!"

Komaru spits her drink in Toko's face while the other girl chokes on her own spit. Looking around the room, Nagito can tell that Byakuya already knew about this girlfriend. Mahiru and Kazuichi are clueless but Nagito wouldn't have expected them to know much about their junior classmen, and it's information that not even Nagito knew about even with how he used to keep track of any bit of information he could find about ultimate students.

"S-since when did someone like _you_ get a girlfriend," Toko chokes out at the same time Komaru recovers to say "Congratulations on finding a girlfriend in the city!"

All in all Yasuhiro's girlfriend is irrelevant to their situation. At this rate the group will decide not to use the blackmail against the Towa family, but is that fine? Nagito had assured that they had the advantage using Mahiru's talent to influence the people, and he still feels certain of that. He only needs to prove it, "Like smoking out a fox hole, perhaps we should consider creating a broadcast to lure Haiji out of hiding? For as weak, cowardly, and short sighted that person is it seems our best course of action would be to keep him in power for the time being."

"How do you propose we 'smoke him out' when your associate's blackmail is of questionable use?" a valid question, coming from Byakuya. By the look of his eyes he's taking the suggestion seriously at least.

But then, Hajime leans back in his chair, tilting his head towards the door though his expression remains impassive.

"Are you expecting someone to come here?" he glances back at Byakuya.

Byakuya brings his coffee close to his face, but before taking a sip he states, "A package is being delivered, yes."

His sip is slow as if that's all the explanation he needs to give. By the blank look from everyone else in the room nobody expected him to have asked for a delivery, and it halts the current conversation. Nagito tries listening out in the hall even with the door closed, but he just can't pick up on what tipped Hajime off. Komaru and Kazuichi do likewise.

Yasuhiro throws his hands up to grip his hair to shriek, "Wait, hold on man, isn't that like really bad? We can't be seen with remnants of despair, right? We're screwed!"

Byakuya doesn't even flinch, instead opting to gently set down his tea cup. He shifts his cold gaze over to Yasuhiro before saying, "Then go receive it out in the hall."

The older man blinks, dumbfounded, "You want me to do it, but why?"

"Because I told them to expect you. Now, go."

Byakuya crosses his arms and legs, leaving just enough leeway in his arms to wave off Yasuhiro like he's shooing away a pest. The other man grumbles but gets out of his chair and leaves the door shut behind him as he exits to the hallway to find this mysterious package that's on its way.

Well that was a surprise.

Nagito rhythmically taps his metal fingers against the table until he sees eyes pull away from the door. Hajime has gone back to his computer work, satisfied for the time being about the interruption. Perhaps there wouldn't be so many distractions if he participated in the discussion, but they'll have to keep going without him.

"About that broadcast...." Nagito begins, getting back on topic, "since our group would like to head the efforts to save this city what I had in mind was that we give this city an enemy it can face against. As a Remnant of Despair I will take responsibility for the riots in place of Monaca. After all, without a faction leader there is no clear 'win' condition in this game."

"You're going to throw yourself to the wolves, but how is that going to help us?" Komaru exclaims. Next to her Toko hisses that this isn't a game anymore.

"Damn it, can't you come up with something a little less self sacrificing for once," Kazuichi shouts.

Mahiru too is against the idea, pleading, "You don't have to take it that far, we can come up with something else."

But it's Byakuya's opinion that really matters in this room. This whole time acting like he can approve and veto ideas on his own, and there is some truth behind that attitude. No one in this room would stand up to someone of his influence unless Hajime decides the course of conversation is getting out of hand, but he hardly seems to be paying attention.

In here Byakuya's word is law, and what Byakuya says is, "I understand. This city has been in a deadlock since Komaru took possession of the monokid controller switch. By coming forth as the 'true' mastermind behind Monaca we can negate the problems caused by her absence in this conflict. You intend to pressure the adult side into regrouping back into an organized camp with Haiji forced to make a move, correct?"

Kazuichi raises a hand like a kid in a classroom, "Uh, hey, isn't that still kind of a bad idea here? Even if that works for getting that Haiji guy to act how is the Future Foundation going to react if a freaking Remnant of Despair makes a public appearance? Their own leadership is pretty scrambled right now but isn't that exactly what'll just make 'em pissed as hell?"

Komaru seems to be deep in concentration considering the idea, "And the kids, I mean, the former warriors of hope besides Monaca. Aren't they going to have to react if you try to say everything was your doing? They are under watch by the Future Foundation for the time being, wouldn't it be trouble if they stepped forward to expose your lie?"

Yasuhiro slips quietly into the room with a small plain box in hand. He holds it up for Byakuya to see who merely points to the middle of the table in a silent command to just leave it there.

"For that part of the plan.... aha, I don't think I should say," Nagito takes a sip from his coffee. Very bitter, but that's just what he wants. Of course the others in the room are confused by what he said so he continues, "I may need some genuine reactions from your side if we intend to trick the Future Foundation so I think we should move on to a new topic now if we agree this is our best shot. Ah, but Komaru. Toko too. I will need to speak with you two privately, so expect me to visit sometime later this week."

"That's foreboding," Toko mutters into her hand. But she bites her thumb instead of making a protest seeing how Byakuya isn't protesting this.

"If we have an idea of how we're going to tackle the monokid problem and Nagito has a plan for dealing with the adults, what else is there for us to talk about?" Mahiru finally relaxed again with the topic moved away from being specifically about using her photos.

Hajime closes the laptop lid and slides it back to Byakuya. With his project as finished as it will be for now he's much more open to participating, "For now we are done here. We could discuss variables of what to do after we have the adults where we want them, but if Nagito insists on holding back details of what he's thinking then we're only going to confuse ourselves coming up with unnecessary plans."

"So w-what was I supposed to write down?" Toko taps her pen against her blank sheet of paper in frustration. "Should I just write in big letters 'we leave it up to our former enemies to clean up their own mess' since that seems to be what we're agreeing to here?"

"I guess it really is that simple, huh," Komaru laughs picking up the blank paper to stare at it. "I'm glad. If we had to rely on the Future Foundation to take action like I was thinking we would have to do today I wasn't sure how well we would have been able to pull this off. No offense."

Byakuya gives the contents of his laptop a quick once-over to assess if there's been any obvious signs of tampering. Once he's satisfied he puts it away again and asks, "When should I expect a message from you, Izuru?"

With his hands less busy Hajime enjoys a long sip of his coffee that is still just warm enough to be enjoyable thanks to the delay they had with Yasuhiro spilling the first batch. He seems content as he tells Byakuya, "Soon. There will be some things we'll need to get together for our plan at Monaca's base, I'll get what I need then so expect to hear from us before we're ready to make that broadcast."

"So are we done for now," Kazuichi is already standing up from his chair and stretching his limbs as he says that.

"Actually there's one last thing," Byakuya says as he finally acknowledges the box he had left on the table. He gives a push and it slides across until it reaches Nagito. Byakuya points, affirming that he is indeed the intended recipient of the package. "Open it."

Nagito's heart thuds in his ears. A gift for him? From a former Ultimate, the one known as the Byakuya Togami? Despite spending all this time in a room with the man his palms are sweaty just touching the outline of the box in front of him and suddenly breathing is a whole ordeal. In and out. No, not through the open mouth, that might be seen as rude. It's far easier to poke through tape keeping the package contained with a robotic hand; no more embarrassing paper cuts from silly slip ups. What shining splendorous gift could it be? The question sets his mind on fire, his whole body temperature shifting with it. He's cold, he's sweating, he's hot, he's shaking. This isn't a normal reaction, but he can't help it. He's so giddy all of a sudden.

Beside him, Hajime doesn't seemed impressed at all. He regards the gift and Byakuya suspiciously, "What's the meaning of this?"

Byakuya doesn't answer. From inside the cardboard packaging box Nagito pulls out a smaller wooden box with a hinge on one side. Like a music box, except more rectangular. The weight felt in Nagito's flesh hand is also wrong for that sort of thing, this being spread evenly across the box instead of weighted by some mechanism. Everyone who hasn't stepped outside to leave yet stays to watch to satisfy their curiosity about the box.

Nagito's thumb rests on the lid, just about to open it when words just start flooding out, "You didn't have to get anything for trash like me. To think I would be regarded by Byakuya in any sort of way.... it's more than enough for me to just have someone as special as you to look my way. I cannot possibly thank you enough. I--"

Kazuichi shouts, "Just open it!"

Nagito swallows, trying to force the words on the tip of his tongue down. The box lid creaks as it opens and inside...... lustrous.....

There is a knife.

Carefully he lifts it out of the red satin lined box to study it. The blade is flawless and the shape speaks more of a hunting knife than any sort of simple kitchen ware. But what makes Nagito's breath hitch is how the metal of the blade seamlessly morphs into becoming the hilt. The hilt looks like a twisted tree branch that is thick on the handle but as it creeps closer to the middle it splits into smaller branches before they stretch thin and morph to form the blade. On the butt end of the hilt is the face of a lion-dog. It practically spells out his family name. This blade was truly made specially just for him, Nagito realizes.

He opens his mouth again, about to profess how this is the most beautiful gift he's ever laid eyes on, but Byakuya speaks first.

"Kill yourself."

This time Nagito's heart stops for a second and he nearly dies then and there, but he manages to speak out a confused, "Huh?"

Hajime shoots up from his chair and slams his hands flat on the table, "What the hell, Byakuya!"

Mahiru shouts, "Hey, that's totally uncalled for! I know you two have some previous history during the tragedy, but what was the point of letting us even come to this meeting if this is how you wanted to see it end?!"

Others start looking like they might have recollected themselves from the shock to speak up as well, but Byakuya wont have it. "Silence, peasants," he commands.

He stands up from his seat and walks around the table to where Nagito remains with his eyes fixated on the knife. Even with Hajime standing right next to him as well Byakuya has the boldness to lean his hand on the table to glare down at Nagito. He continues speaking, "You know, the Komaeda family once meant something to the world. Not near as prestigious as the Togami family, naturally, but in another lifetime I could have acknowledged you as a peer. Are you even worthy of that name now? For what reason does someone like you still draw breath in this world?"

Nobody moves.

"You should know I had commissioned the former Ultimate Blacksmith to make this very knife. It's perhaps one of the last projects he was given before his recent death. Seemed appropriate, given what your school record stated about you. For you to tear lives apart, to cause nothing but trouble for other people, it never mattered if you were a member of Despair, did it."

Hajime is still as a statue so his friends take that as a cue not to jump in. If looks could kill, however.... But Byakuya isn't looking his way, so the glare goes unacknowledged.

Nagito leans back in his chair, keeping the knife held up in his sight with his flesh hand as he looks back at Byakuya. It really is such a high quality blade even with such a complicated design. He sighs, "I completely understand where you are coming from with this. Truly someone like me is less than worthless and the most honorable thing I could do is to die.... but I cannot do that. I'm sorry, but it seems I'll have to return this gift to you, Byakuya."

Leaning forward again Nagito places the knife back in the box where it belongs. But when he tries to hand it back to Byakuya the other man crosses his arms. "No, you keep it; I have no use for such a thing. Just tell me why now of all times you decide you want to live. In the Neo World Program you were more than eager to die after all."

"Ah, that. It's true, in the past I tended to view my situation pessimistically. But now..." Nagito tilts his head back far enough to see Hajime still standing next to him from the opposite side Byakuya stands. Hajime is considerably more relaxed since Nagito denied the intention of the gift, enough so that he even breaks his critical gaze on Byakuya to meet Nagito's eyes and give a small smile. Nagito snaps his attention back to Byakuya, "I have taken to giving the future a chance. Perhaps the world would be better off without me, but I've decided to try making my own worth while I'm still alive."

"Very well then, that will be all," Byakuya stands up straight and promptly turns around to leave the room.

Nagito feels a set of hands in his shoulders: Kazuichi's.

"Dude, what an asshole."

\----------------------

 

Later that night Nagito meets up with Byakuya the Imposter back on the boat.

It's not intentional really, they just happened to be occupying the same space in one of the many rooms in their shared boat home. Byakuya is reading something Nagito can't make out without getting a better look, but he knows that whatever it is must pertain to what they are doing in the city. Nagito doesn't really have business worth interrupting his work, but seeing the other man gives him pause. The events of today remind him that there's still something left unsaid between them, even with Byakuya's willing ....forgiveness? of his hand in the man's death.

Slowly Nagito seats himself next to Byakuya at the table he's lain various newspapers, magazines, and miscellaneous printed paper out on. Nagito catches the other's eye for a second, but beyond a simple greeting Byakuya has nothing more to say. That much is expected. And normally Nagito also wouldn't have anything to add to that besides his own greeting.

Today he gently lays a hinged box on the table over some papers Byakuya is not currently reading over. He taps the lid a couple of times with his robotic hand before telling him, "Byakuya Togami gave me a gift today. Isn't that strange?"

The man's name is enough to get Byakuya to put down his papers and face Nagito. Would the real Byakuya be so easily caught off guard like this? Nagito wonders, but soon enough his Byakuya schools his face back to a neutral state. Just a crack in the mask.

"That's quite unexpected. I would not have presumed you were owed anything from him."

"Right?" Nagito laughs. His fingers tease lifting the lid, but he knows he should preface the situation before he shows his classmate the item. "After all, I caused him quite a bit of trouble. That he's willing to allow me to meddle further in this city's affairs is more than enough grace. Ahh, but--"

Nagito flicks the lid open just to watch it plop back down before Byakuya has time to register its contents.

"-- there is one thing I would like to ask you about this."

"Go on...." says the other man, curiosity piqued.

"Well, you see, this gift...." finally Nagito lifts the lid once more to pick up his custom knife. It's just as beautiful as the first time he saw it. He thinks to switch the grip to his flesh hand to feel its weight again, but his body reacts faster than the thought can process by touching the tip of the blade with his fingers instead. Feeling the sharpness. Truly a work of art. "It was more of a request really. Togami asked for my death today, and it makes me wonder..... shouldn't you? Want me dead, that is."

For a minute, Byakuya does not answer him.

For a minute Nagito continues to play with the knife in his hands. holding it this way and that way. Watching his and the other man's reflections in the metal.

Suddenly Byakuya's hand slams flat on the table with a hard thud making Nagito jump in his seat. "Who am I," he asks.

The question wasn't what Nagito expected to hear. Who? Of course the man in front of him is, "Byakuya Togami. That is how you wish to be addressed while wearing that face."

Byakuya wraps his hands over Nagito's robot one, holding it and the knife in place for the time being. "What is my talent?"

Nagito doesn't understand where Byakuya is going with this, but he plays along, "The Ultimate Heir. Byakuya Togami, destined to stand above all the rest."

"No," comes a whisper from the other man. He looks like he could be angry, but it's difficult to place what emotion he's trying to convey even as Byakuya moves his other hand to grip Nagito's shoulder and give him a shake. "No, that's wrong. What is MY talent? The talent of the person right here in front of you."

"Ultimate Imposter," Nagito swallows with his throat suddenly feeling tight.

The other man relaxes, and lets go. He crosses his arms and tilts his head back for that Byakuya Togami 'looking down on you' image. But he smiles and says, "That's right. As an imposter I'm no mere copycat, got it? Like how I never had to lose weight to conform to his physique, it is not necessary for my actions to be one to one with his."

"Even so..." Nagito trails off, staring at the knife in his hands letting the item speak for itself.

This time when Byakuya puts a hand over Nagito's he pulls Nagito's hand back to the box. Firm but gentle. Together they put the knife back in its resting place. "I am the Byakuya Togami who has the unique experience of being your classmate, Nagito. I know you better than he does. So, I don't need to test your resolve to get the answers the other Byakuya sought for with this gift. That is all."

Nagito hugs the box to his chest now that the knife is put away again.

"I'm sorry," he says, "I should have known not to disrespect your talent like that. Of course Byakuya can do whatever he wishes, you certainly carry the immutable air of the Togami family as you are! I shouldn't have bothered you, goodbye."

Quickly Nagito stands up with his precious box and steps out of the room Imposter had occupied for work. In his haste he does not hear his classmate echo back, "The Togami family.... as I am."


	4. Tech Support

"Oooooh, man, I've missed being here. It's so clean! The tech is so up to date! Hey, hey! Do you see the specs on this?" Kazuichi finds himself practically bouncing on his feet inside the Towa factory. Sure, he thinks he could have had better company than Nagito with him, but he couldn't really expect Sonia to drop everything just for a tour at one of his job locations. He could have really shown off his cool side, but this morning she reminded him that she has her country to be concerned about. And, damn it, he can't be that selfish to put himself over a whole country. Or over her; having the weight of the world on her shoulder's as the Queen of a warring country. It's so unfair.

But he's got the world in his hands to be concerned about as well. Being here, blanketed in the smell of steel and oil, this is where his comeback starts! While he's going to help Nagito locate the controls for the mono helmets and roaming monokumas in the city Kazuichi knows he's actually here for so much more. In fact the controls and Nagito might as well be an afterthought to his real mission: stealing the blueprints of the air purifier he helped create and also a super special secret mission from Hajime. Damn, he's so ready to get to work on that kind of project! And once Hajime gets their communications up and running they can slip those blueprints to the Future Foundation and spread it around the world to take back the piece of the planet Kazuichi had ruined for everyone with his own hands.

Depending on how many purifiers get built around the world they might even be able to repair the atmosphere to a better state than it was before they--

Suddenly Kazuichi remembers "stepping stones" and the thought dies. He glaces at Nagito cleaning up children's toys from the area with an empty box he found. Even if these blueprints do remake the world into something better than it's been before that won't make him some hero of the planet. Maybe he even owes it to the world to leave it better than he remembered it once was. Shouldn't they all? It makes sense not to just give back what they took but to make up for it on top of that.

Though come to think of it, even though they went to Towa to clean up a mess Nagito made it's not like he really did anything. They're only here because Nagito was involved, not that he directed the city to its doom with his own power. The heart of the conflict here goes to the Towa family getting involved with..... her. Suddenly he feels a jolt down his spine. To keep the thought of  _ her _ out of his mind Kazuichi opens his mouth and just starts saying the first thing that comes to mind, "Being here's got me thinking. You're so damn lucky you're talent is kind of useless, Nagito. I mean I guess you use it however you do and it's caused some trouble in the past, but it's not like you can twist it for mass destruction like everyone else did with theirs. Like, what did you even do here anyway? Babysit some shitty kids who actually started the riots? Sonia is back on the ship wondering how she can end a freaking world wide war while you didn't even get a riot started on your own."

It's only after the words escape his mouth does Kazuichi think maybe that's something he should have kept to himself. He checks Nagito's hands for weapons, after their little island adventure there's no way in hell he's going to trust that Nagito doesn't have something weird up his sleeves, but the other man is frozen with his box of monokuma-painted teddies and other goofy looking toys. It almost scares him more how quiet Nagito is. People lashing out is far more familiar ground than--

Nagito sighs and sets his box down next to a computer terminal. His smile is soft when he cocks his head towards Kazuichi. The words out of his mouth aren't a threat, but it's bone chilling, "Oh, I hadn't realized you knew all about what my luck is capable of? I suppose you are correct that the only notable thing I've done as a Despair is wholly worthless. Something so insignificant it could have only come from someone lower than dirt like me."

"Um," it's hard for Kazuichi to respond to that. What can he really say? Maybe apologize? Nagito doesn't seem that mad, but it's hard to read him in the first place. Especially when he's always talking down on himself like that. If Kazuichi could go back in time he would have begged for someone, anyone else, to come along. God, it's just so awkward. "I mean, I guess I dont really know what your luck is capable of. You did almost take out the entire island with it, but like even that's small time compared to what the rest of us did as Despairs."

Nagito turns to face him now, the smile replaced by cold condescension, "Say, I don't recall Despair being a competition. Care to remind me why you think it matters what I did or didn't do in that time?"

_ Aha! There, finally he's mad. He's totally mad!  _ Kazuichi feels the sweet taste of vindication to his suspicions that he can't trust Nagito before he remembers that he's not supposed to be starting fights here. It would be so much easier if they could just duke it out and have it all be over with, but people are just so damn complicated sometimes. And Hajime would be mad too if he picked a fight here. They all promised not to hold onto grudges from the virtual world, within reason anyway. Kazuichi can't be sure if his negative feelings towards Nagito are justified here. Maybe not.  _ Crap, this is actually bad. Back up, back up. _

"I guess it doesn't matter, I was just trying to make conversation?" Kazuichi bites his lip once he hears himself wimping out on being confident in that statement. He can only hope Nagito buys it, because he's really not thinking here. Why did he even bring it up in the first place? Stupid, stupid, stupid.

"Do you really have the time to be chatting about such things? If you are curious about what my luck is capable of I suppose I could tell you, but you have other projects you are working on I believe. So really, don't let me waste your precious time," Nagito is backing out of the room as he speaks. Which, he's right, it would take Kazuichi's mind off having him around if he could just pretend the other isn't there long enough to get absorbed in his work. But he did promise to help Nagito too, so is this really okay?

"Hey! Wait, don't just run off because I said something dumb. Aren't we supposed to be working together to find that code or whatever? I've got a decent idea where I can get started on that other stuff--"

But Nagito doesn't stop walking out the doorway to another section of the factory.

His mechanical hand whirrs as he waves goodbye to Kazuichi on his way out, as he says, "Oh, that won't be necessary. I already know where Monaca keeps the monokuma helmet codes, all I need to find is how to make an appropriate controller. I'm sure it's a one man job, after all it's simple enough a child can do it, you know?"

Some part of Kazuichi wants to protest. Some part of Kazuichi wants to be relieved. But as long as the job gets done then it gets done right? If Nagito thinks they can work on their own projects alone then he's got no choice but to trust the guy's judgement on that. Because if he doesn't at least try to trust Nagito then Hajime will be mad. Heck, not even just Hajime but Fuyuhiko and the Queen herself Sonia are pretty firm on that new leaf stance. He's not required to forgive Nagito, but what harm could giving him a chance to change his mind do?

Just have to forget about it.

Cozying up to a computer terminal, Kazuichi is pleased to find that the log-in Towa SR. gave him still works. Of course if there was any issue with Big Bang, the giant mecha monokuma, they would have had to call him back for repairs. Idly he opens the folder containing Big Bang’s information only to scream at the contents within. Oh how it breaks his heart to see his baby was put out of commission. Her virgin voyage and--!

Kazuichi sucks in a breath. He shouldn’t get so attached to his war machines. Big Band served its purpose, he’s sure, and now the robot is no more. The situation the city is facing would be worse if Haiji still had it to use against the children of the city. When he had built it he was told to make it overpowered and… yeah, he’s pretty sure watching something too big to fail lose like this must be what  _ she _ would have planned all along. Come to think of it.

  
  


It’s over now. Kazuichi shakes his head trying to clear his thoughts. It’s over and Big Band isn’t his concern now.

So he absorbs himself in looking for Monaca’s project folders instead. His position as a member of Despair gave him full access to the Towa company’s manufacturing department, but that just means there’s that many more files to look through to find what he’s looking for. It’s going to be a busy morning.

He’s so deep into searching through folders, copying relevant data to a disk, and making his own notes that he can’t be sure if it’s been minutes or hours when Hajime calls. He jumps, but quickly remembers that they did have other plans today. Byakuya the real has been getting impatient for that secure connection Hajime had promised, even with Hajime explaining that he wasn’t going to push forward with that plan until after he took out the signal blocker on Towa Tower.

And he wasn’t going to do _ that  _ until--

“Hey, are you two ready to head over to the broadcast station?” Hajime says as his face fills the screen with Kazuichi answering the call. Kind of shocking Hajime was able to call the exact computer Kazuichi was at, but of course he’d figure something out for that.

For a couple of days now they had been going back and forth with Komaru and toko as well as Byakuya about their big plans to save the city. Their first major step begins today with Nagito airing a broadcast just as Hajime unblocks the signal so the message not only spreads throughout Towa but to the Future Foundation. Anyone with access to the station will see it.

“Oh, yeah, sorry I got a little tied up in all this. I’m pretty much done though, good timing!” Kazuichi starts closing out the programs he still had up. If Hajime is calling that must mean it’s closer to showtime than he thought. His back pops while he stretches out.

“Where is Nagito?”

Hajime’s question makes Kazuichi pause mid-stretch.

He really hasn’t seen or heard from the other man in some time. They were supposed to be working together this morning before the afternoon broadcast. Was it a bad idea to split up? He’s about to ask hajime if he messed up when Nagito comes back through the doorway he left from. Now with a backpack over stuffed with….. many controllers?

“Oh! Hajime, hello. It seems I came back just in time. Are you ready to go, Kazuichi?” Nagito is in a much better mood than before at least. But that barely even registers as Kazuichi’s jaw drops at the sight of him.

“Weren’t you supposed to make just one controller, what’s up with the bag?” he points to Nagito’s back. Each controller is identical with a simple rectangle shape and a single red button protected by a clear casing on a latch.

“Ah, well, I messed up a little making these. I have the real one right here,” Nagito picks up another identical controller from his coat pocket to show, “but with my luck having a few extras seemed like the safest option. Even if most of these are duds.”

“Uh, I guess if you say it’s okay-- wait what do you mean ‘most are duds’! Can you even tell which ones are armed, this is serious!”

Nagito laughs, but if he was going to respond to that his words are silenced by Hajime cutting in, “Anyway, looks like you two are finished. Fuyuhiko already has a car on the way to pick you guys up so expect him shortly.”

Nagito pockets his “real” monokuma disabling controller. He says, “Will we see you there, Hajime?”

“Maybe afterwards? I still have to keep an eye on things here while you send your message, but you and I do have something to finalize with Byakuya once we get a moment. Kazuichi, I’ll stop by to see what you got as well. So, see you later.” 

They say their goodbyes for now and end the call.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I noticed that it takes me about 3 months to post a new chapter but I wasn't ready for this one by december, so this chapter is a bit shorter than the others so that I can at least give everyone something for being patient with me. Hopefully this means the next one will come out sooner. We're getting close to something I've been looking forward to writing for a good while now.


End file.
